Arthur Kirkland and the Academy
by Supreme Meep
Summary: Arthur Kirkland, a young wizard, is returning to a magical alternate dimension to attend the Magical Academy. At this Academy, he meets one good friend, and discovers evil lurking as well. AU, rated T for some things. USUK and mentioned PruCan
1. Introduction and Arrival

This is an AU. Might have USUK later, since I love that pairing to death.

Although for some reason, a lot of stories use the word 'warlock' for males who practice magic, that word can also mean like, 'liar' or something so I opted to use 'wizard' for males and 'witch' for females.

For why I used Aleister Crowley, just google it, but it has no relation to the actual person, thanks.

Apologies for the long introduction that lacks any of the Hetalia characters, but a lot of the stuff in it will be relevant later.

This was inspired by something, but I can't quite remember what. Sorry.

* * *

Sorceryville was a town with a silly name, for sure, but whoever had named it sure wanted the name to match the purpose. It was a town built in an alternate dimension, separated from the mortal realm by a gate that only skilled wizards and witches could access.

It was in this town that the Magical Academy was founded to help young witches and wizards learn magic, but after several hundred years of magical disasters created by young students, it became the duty of the family to teach their children magic until they turned eighteen, at which point they could either enroll in the Magical Academy (by this time, admission was rather exclusive and a test had to be taken, although it could be taken several times and enrollment was an option until the applicant reached age twenty), which was a great honor and secured the students an excellent future, or they could live normal lives in either Sorceryville or the Mortal Realm.

Sorceryville itself is, like any town, governed by a mayor, but this mayor has little power in comparison with the six sorcerers that run the Magical Academy. These six are generally elected by the public as well, and spend more time dealing with the laws of Sorceryville than the actual mayor, who tends to deal with civilian complaints.

Of course, Sorceryville is not only witches and warlocks; there are a number of mythical creatures such as trolls, ogres, goblins, elves, fairies, zombies, genies, and the like. These creatures tend to live in harmony with the sorcerers, although until recent times they had not been allowed to enroll in the Magical Academy.

A train had been created to move between realms, which made it so that people other than wizards and witches could move between the two (not humans, of course, since humans were not allowed to know about Sorceryville and that was how peace was kept between magical and non-magical communities). Thus, many younger sorcerers decided to go to human schools in the Mortal Realm (particularly to get away from their parents), leaving the Magical Academy lacking students. As a result, creatures were allowed to enroll.

Now that the Academy's history has been covered, let us move to the history of Sorceryville. It was founded by a man name Aleister Crowley after a conflict between the magical society and the non-magical, and the new dimension had to be created to promote peace. Nowadays most mortals don't know the truth about it, but anyway…

Crowley left his throne over Sorceryville to his son, who in turn left it to _his_ son. However, the monarchy ended with the last son, who, although he did have children, had already passed command of Sorceryville to the form of government seen today by the time they were born. This did not change the fact that the Crowley family possessed some of the most powerful magic in the dimension (remember, these are the descendants of the man who created a whole new _dimension_ with his powers) and were held in high respect. Though they stopped being worshipped as gods around the 18th century or so, after another magical family caused an uprising, they are still much respected and treated like royalty within Sorceryville.

Enter Amelia Crowley, who had been the last of that family in modern times. She was a bright witch, raised and educated by her father, however, she declined a scholarship to the Magical Academy in favor of going to the Mortal Realm-her reason was different from most. You see, while most witches or wizards who left Sorceryville did so to escape their families or to learn more about the human culture (which they found absolutely fascinating), Amelia left because while vacationing in the Mortal Realm, she had fallen in love with a human. That human's name was James Kirkland.

In time, they had a son who would naturally have inherited magical abilities from his mother, despite the fact that she tried to raise him as a mortal (James did know about their abilities, but it wasn't something they talked about). Around his twelfth birthday, their son snuck onto the train that went between the realms (as a born wizard, he could see the train station) and ended up being educated about magic by his grandfather (despite Amelia's protests).

I'm sure you know his name, but in case you were unsure, Amelia and James' son was named Arthur Kirkland.

After being taught by his grandfather for five years, he returned to the Mortal Realm for a year to visit his parents. Since he hadn't been in contact with them for those five years (contact between the two realms was virtually impossible unless someone felt like traveling between them, and since the train only ran about once a month, it wasn't exactly easy; it only ran once a month because of all the magical power needed to run it), he had to find out some things had changed: his parents had become much more open to the concept of magic, as shown by the fact they'd decided to teach Arthur's younger brother Peter (who was six years younger than Arthur) about magic after he'd left, probably wanting to keep at least one of their sons in the Mortal Realm.

However, after that year, Arthur received a scholarship to the Magical Academy and accepted it. Now, he would be returning to Sorceryville, with something new…

* * *

"Bloody hell," Arthur exclaimed, gazing up at the vast, castle-like structure that was the Academy; he'd never seen anything like it, even in all his years of living in Sorceryville, seeing as it was about a half hour carriage ride from the town itself.

"Ain't it just, though?" commented his driver from the front of the carriage, still steering the horses. The driver had only introduced himself as 'the fella who takes new students to the Academy', and seemed to have a screw or two loose. Although, seeing as the driver was a talking _scarecrow_ (probably animated by magic), it was probably whoever had cast the animation spell that had a screw loose (that, or just plain sucked at magic).

The carriage soon came to a stop in front of the castle, and it was only then that Arthur actually got a good look at the grounds. It was a large castle as he'd observed previously, but it was surrounded by a huge courtyard and several smaller buildings that had probably been added when the castle was converted into a school. There were benches not unlike what one would expect to see in a park, but to top it all, there were probably hundreds of students walking around the campus, or just standing in groups and chatting with each other. As Arthur stepped out of the carriage, he couldn't help but stare at the scene in front of him in awe.

The scarecrow-driver unloaded his luggage and set the various bags and suitcases at his feet. "Yer room's number six hundred and sixty-six, if ah remember correctly," the driver laughed as he handed Arthur a sheet of paper that had Arthur's schedule and housing details written on it. "Brain o' straw and all. Anyway, if ya have any questions, that there's the front office…" the scarecrow pointed to one of the larger buildings that Arthur had observed earlier. "…And all them administrative staffers got the special maroon jackets, so ya can ask them. Enjoy yer stay at tha Academy."

With that, the scarecrow-driver climbed back onto his seat and shouted, "Gee-up!" With that, the carriage began to move as the black, velvety horses pulling it began to walk forward. Within moments the carriage was nearly out of sight.

"Suppose I should get to my room and unpack, seeing as classes don't start for another week," Arthur mumbled, flicking his wrist to magically levitate his luggage. With that, he began to walk across the courtyard towards the dormitory section of the castle (apparently most of the castle was being used for classes, but the rest was all housing, although there was a smaller dormitory building that had been constructed later to contain the girls' dorms; there were more male students than female, and the dorms had to be separated for obvious reasons) with his luggage floating next to him. That way, he could get his things around without having to do all that much work-god, he loved magic.

However, he'd only gone a few steps before his luggage decided to stop floating, hitting the ground and one of the suitcases falling open and spilling its contents on the ground. Cursing and wondering where he'd messed up the spell, he cast another to get the items back into the suitcase and close it.

…It sprung open again. _Damnit_. Arthur bent down to pick up everything and put it back in himself, so he could force the bloody suitcase shut if he needed to.

"Excuse me, but I'm guessing you didn't read our student handbook?" asked a voice. Looking up, Arthur noticed it was an older man-one of the administrators of the Academy, if the scarecrow's comment about the maroon jackets was to be believed.

"Er, I skimmed," Arthur replied, wondering what that had to do with anything. He'd gone and assumed that the rules at the Academy would be something along the lines of 'do not have random magical duels in the hallways, etcetera' and thus had neglected to read that part of the handbook thoroughly.

The man chuckled, "Ah, then you wouldn't know. Casual use of magic is frowned upon here at Magical Academy-actually, use of magic in general, so I had to negate your spells."

Arthur frowned, confused. "Why is that?" he asked, snapping the repacked suitcase shut and standing up with it. "I assumed a school of magic would at least allow uses within reason."

"Well, it's a rule from the old days," the man answered. "When younger kids were allowed to attend, and the school wasn't nearly as prestigious, there were mishaps and disasters several times a day! So, magic was restricted, and the tradition stuck."

Okay, that made more sense. Picking up the rest of his luggage (and wondering how the hell the scarecrow had carried it all earlier, since it was so heavy). He said, "Thanks." And resolved to actually read the handbook once he was in his room.

"No problem," with that, the man walked away towards another group of students that seemed to be behaving inappropriately, yelling obscene comments at passerby and attempting to grope them. Arthur hoped that he didn't have any classes with that lot, whoever they were. One of them actually seemed familiar, but he brushed off that feeling and began to head to his room.

* * *

Figure out who the inappropriately behaving group of students was? This'll be my last addition to my projects (as the third fanfiction I will be updating at once) for a while, so expect updates to shift between my three current fics.


	2. Master Kirkland

In this chapter, some new faces show up and the members of the 'inappropriate action' group (as I've dubbed them so far, haha) are revealed.

If you catch the quote in Arthur's speech, good for you.

Some angsty shit starts happening in this chapter.

…I apologize in advance for any OOCness that may happen, cause I think it did.

* * *

It took more time to reach his room than Arthur would have liked; it was partially because he was forced to lug all of his luggage the entire way there (he was not going to risk being caught levitating it again, since he didn't exactly know what the punishment was for breaking the rules when you actually knew about them), but he found that his room, six hundred and sixty-six, was at the top of a bloody _tower_. It was one of the four highest towers in the entire castle, as well as the only one being used as a dormitory room.

As to why he'd gotten such a… special… room, Arthur could only guess that it was due to his ancestors. Indeed, he supposed that he had only been allowed to go on without being punished after breaking the rule against magic he had been unaware of because of the same thing.

Sure enough, once he had entered the (rather large) room and set down his bags, he'd discovered a note on the bed.

"Dear Arthur Kirkland,

We, the administrative council of Magical Academy have given this room to you as a token of our appreciation for all your family has done for this school and indeed all of Sorceryville. When this castle belonged to the Crowley family, as they were the ruling family of our wonderful town at the time, this was one of Aleister Crowley's favorite bedrooms. We hope it will suit your needs well and if you require anything further please do not hesitate to ask at the main office.

Sincerely,

The Administrative Council of Magical Academy"

Arthur read the letter several times in disbelief; he had known that his ancestors had been important, but not that they'd owned the castle or ruled over the town at any point. That even the administrators would go that far was… amazing, to say the least.

Looking around the room, he noticed that it was furnished to the point that he was shocked that the council would have assumed that he would need anything more. The bed was huge, with several sheets and blankets that it would probably take him several minutes to get underneath once he actually decided to sleep, all decorated with red and gold patterns. The curtains closely resembled the blankets in color and pattern, although they had a silky and transparent quality, draped beautifully over a clear window which gave Arthur a view of the entire courtyard-and even the forest and much of Sorceryville besides. There was a large writing desk in the corner, with several built-in drawers and his textbooks already set on top. A wooden wardrobe was located next to a large mirror near the wall opposite the window (which also had a large sill covered in fabric and cushions), and that was next to a door, which led to either a closet or an attic; he hadn't checked yet. Perhaps the most shocking furniture of all was the (interestingly modern despite the room's generally ancient charm) flat screen television hanging on the wall next to the entrance door.

After recovering from the shock of having such an extravagant room and not having a roommate (as he'd heard most people did), Arthur began to unpack. He put his clothing away in the wardrobe (thankfully the Magical Academy had no uniform, so he was able to bring his usual clothes) and the few books he'd brought himself on the small beside table. His pencils and the like went on the desk; surely he'd need them for class later, but for now that area could be their home.

The entire organization of the room probably took at least an hour, but in the end Arthur was proud of himself for it. "What next, what next," he mumbled, running a hand through his messy blonde hair. "Right, I should probably locate all of my classes."

He picked up the schedule the scarecrow had handed him earlier and headed out the door, using his key (which had been mailed to him along with the student handbook he'd still neglected to read thoroughly) to lock the door behind him. Arthur then placed the key back onto the string around his neck; keeping the key there was a useful trick his grandfather had told him to use to avoid losing it (a well-given piece of advice, since Arthur did tend to lose things).

However, before he could turn to go back down the stairs that lead to the normal dormitories and then the main floor of the castle, Arthur noticed a note taped to the door. It didn't look formal or like it had taken thought at all, like the letter he'd received from the administrators of the Academy, but was rather a sheet of notebook paper (probably torn hastily from a spiral notebook) that had barely-legible scribble writing on it.

"Yo, new kid!

I bet you're dying to meet the people who are gonna be in your class, right? Well, we sort of want to meet you too (since the office guys wouldn't even give us your name, just told us that you were moving into this big room up here, alone)

Anyway, we're gonna all get together tonight in the lobby (I drew a map on the back so you won't get lost, k?) and have a one-week-before-school party to get to know each other (some of the guys have been here a while, but you and me are both first-timers so we'll have to do our best to win, right?)

Be there, because we'll totally find out your name and rip on you for being the kid who didn't come if you don't!

From,

Alfred F. Jones"

Yes, the note certainly wasn't neat in the least, but Arthur supposed that going to the get-together it mentioned couldn't be a bad idea, especially if it gave him a chance to meet his classmates. Although, this Alfred person seemed to be somewhat off his onion and Arthur assumed that they wouldn't have much of a relationship (acquaintances at best, if he could assume anything based off the hastily scribbled note).

Come to think of it, it was almost sunset. Since the note didn't mention a time (but Arthur knew from the part of the handbook he'd read that curfew was at midnight, so it couldn't have been that late) he guessed it would be in his best interest to find this 'lobby' area. He took the note off of the door and flipped it over to inspect the map it had mentioned, which was surprisingly neat and most likely traced straight out of the handbook, with footnotes such as 'you are here' and 'party is here' added in pen. Stuffing the note in his pocket, Arthur began to walk downstairs.

He reached the designated area and noticed that, to his relief, there were already several people gathered there and beginning to socialize. So he certainly hadn't arrived early. "Oh, hey, I haven't met you yet!" someone shouted.

Arthur turned to see someone his age with darker blonde hair and a cowlick dashing towards him enthusiastically, grinning like an idiot. "Yeah, so I'm Alfred. Who're you?" the teen asked, adjusting his glasses as he spoke (they'd probably been dislocated by his messy running, Arthur noted).

"My name is Arthur Kirkland," he replied, taking the scribbled note out of his pocket. "If you're Alfred, then this must be your doing, correct?"

For a moment Alfred looked confused, his blue eyes darting between Arthur's face and the note. "Oh. OH," he said, finally getting it. "You're the guy who moved into the tower room. Right, yeah, I wrote that. I sort of figured since you got here later than a lot of people and got that kind of isolated place, you wouldn't know about the party or anything, so I was your awesome hero and left you that note."

"Er, thanks," Arthur replied, putting the note away and wondering why the taller blonde had bothered to call himself a 'hero' for performing such a simple task. "…So, we're in the same year, then?"

"Yeah, which means we're probably gonna have like, ALL of our classes together. The school's small like that," Alfred commented. "Hey, so where exactly are you from? Your accent's kind of funny, definitely not from anywhere in Sorceryville."

"Britain," Arthur's response was nearly automatic, although once he noticed how confused the blue-eyed teenager in front of him was by it, he felt the need to explain further. "Mortal Realm; honestly, have you never been there?"

Alfred looked surprised at the mention of the Mortal Realm. "I think a lot of us have never been there," he explained. "Usually only kids raised in Sorceryville pass the exams to get in, but I guess you're something special?"

Of course, Alfred didn't know about who Arthur's family was; how could he know? "Family," Arthur mumbled in reply.

"That's awesome, 'cause it means you're from one of those really powerful ones, right?" said Alfred. "Of course, I don't really care… it's what's in here that matters! Oh, and determination." At the 'in here that matters', the blue-eyed teen had placed a hand over his own heart in order to reinforce the point.

"I agree, actually," Arthur said, surprised that he was actually able to hold a nice conversation with the one who'd written such an idiotic and messy note.

"Hmm… What was I gonna say? Whatever. You know, there's actually another guy that grew up in the Mortal Realm here," Alfred informed him. "In fact, I think he's in here… Hey Francis! You around?"

"Oui," replied a teenager with a short beard and long, blonde hair that looked incredibly well cared-for. This 'Francis' person approached the two, an interested expression on his face. "Francis Bonnefoy, at your service."

"Oh _hell_ no," muttered Arthur. Now he remembered where he'd seen that one person from the 'inappropriate action' group from earlier; it was none other than Francis Bonnefoy, whose sorcerer parents his mother had been_ such_ good friends with in the Mortal Realm. That did not stop Arthur from hating his guts.

"Arthur? Oh, I cannot say it is a surprise," Francis said casually.

"Wait, you guys know each other? Is the Mortal Realm that small? I heard it was huge," said Alfred quickly, blue eyes wide with shock.

"Larger than this town, I assure you," replied Arthur, which seemed to calm the taller blonde down a bit. "However, families involved in sorcery tend to live in the same areas. Unfortunately."

"Oh Arthur, I see you're as cold as ever," commented Francis. "It was a mere coincidence that brought us together the first time, but a second must be fate!"

Resisting a strong temptation to punch the long-haired teen in the face, Arthur replied, "No."

"Ah well, au revoir for now. I must get back to… things," with that, Francis slipped back into the crowd of people that was continually growing as more students arrived.

"Huh, so ya'll hate each other?" Alfred asked.

"I hate him," Arthur corrected. "For he is a bloody pervert and has attempted to strip me many times. Last time, I broke his nose."

"Good to know," laughed Alfred. When Arthur glared at him for laughing, he explained, "Sorry, you just didn't seem like the type of person who could throw a punch."

"I assure you that I can," Arthur said. "In any case, I suppose you wouldn't mind letting me go for a bit? You are the only… decent person I've met so far."

"Oh, yeah!" shouted Alfred. "Here, I'll introduce you to everyone!" With that, he grabbed Arthur by the wrist and, despite the shorter blonde's protests, dragged him across the room to introduce him to a group of people.

"Guys, this is Arthur Kirkland!" the blue-eyed teen shouted as he approached the group.

At the mention of Arthur's name, pretty much everyone in the group looked up to stare at the green-eyed teen. The first one to speak was a blonde with slicked-back hair who was slightly taller than Alfred. "Nice to meet you. I'm Ludwig," he said simply.

"My name's Feliciano, ve!" exclaimed a brunette with an odd curl sticking out of the side of his hairstyle. "I like pizza and pasta and-" he was quickly silenced by the tall blonde (Ludwig) clearing his throat in annoyance. "Ah, sorry Doitsu!" What an odd nickname.

The first one to mention what seemed to be on all of their minds was a platinum blonde teenager who was even taller than Ludwig-and much thicker in stature. "Arthur Kirkland, the descendant of Crowley?" he asked curiously.

Before Arthur could respond, Alfred cut in, "Crowley? The founder of Sorceryville Crowley? Super powerful awesome magical power Crowley?"

Well, the cat certainly was out of the bag. Arthur cleared his throat. "Yes," he replied. "Although… I'm not much different from the lot of you. As a brilliant playwright once wrote, what's in a name?"

"Unless it's freaking Crowley," commented a brunette who looked much like Feliciano (Arthur assumed they were probably brothers) but with the curl on a different side of his face.

Much of the group seemed to agree, nodding and talking quietly amongst themselves. Arthur was quickly becoming upset by this; half angry and half… perhaps it was sadness that he felt from the group's singling him out because of his heritage. "Please don't think of me as different," he requested.

"But you are, da?" said the tall student who had first brought up the subject. Once again, the group seemed to agree.

"Damnit!" Arthur shouted, taking a step back. "Listen when other people are trying to tell you something!"

"Of course, _Master_ Kirkland," commented the platinum blonde, smiling in a mocking manner. "Or perhaps you would prefer Master Crowley? Whichever suits your…" The tall student didn't finish, or perhaps it was just that Arthur didn't hear it.

It was because at that moment, he turned and fled, running away from the group. If they chose not to listen, fine. If they chose to reject him, fine. He could live happily alone, without anyone accepting him. He would deal with it until he graduated… maybe further, whatever it took.

This was his resolution, so why was it that when he finally reached his room, entered, and slammed the door behind him, he was biting his lip to the point that it began to bleed as well as fighting back tears?


	3. Apologies

Why can't I sleep…? Darn, I'll write this at 4am then again at school~

If you couldn't already tell, I just totally made up names for the parents, kay thanks. Also, I haven't specified Ivan as being Russian or etcetera because in this story, almost everyone was born and raised in the magical realm, not the mortal one. There are no lines like that there, which makes things easier to understand. For me, at least.

* * *

Arthur had been laying on his bed, on top of the covers (because hell if he had enough energy to deal with those at the moment), attempting to calm himself down for what seemed like hours but in reality had only been about ten minutes, before he heard something that made him sit up. He heard footsteps outside his door; they were faint, as if someone were coming up the stairs, but he couldn't imagine why someone would bother coming to see him (and his room was the only place the stairs went at that point, anyway; the normal dorms were further down). Unless they were going to taunt him again, that was.

There was a short knock on the door, followed by, "Hey, Artie, can I talk to you?"

It sounded like Alfred, so Arthur went ahead and assumed that it was. "Cut the ridiculous nickname," he said bitterly. "Also, I don't want to talk to you."

There was a pause before Alfred replied from behind the door, "Why not?"

"Because you made a bloody fool out of me," Arthur answered, digging his fingers into a nearby pillow. Perhaps it wasn't entirely Alfred's fault, and it seemed that the other teenager's intentions had been good in inviting him to the get-together; this was despite the fact that the result was much less than desirable.

"…I'm sorry. I thought the party would help. I didn't know that-listen, it's a real pain talking through the door, so can I just come in?" Alfred sounded sincere at first, but by the end sounded somewhat impatient.

"Sure," said Arthur after a long pause. Somehow, he didn't feel like he was going to regret it. "Door's unlocked."

"Thanks," with that, Alfred entered the room and shut the door behind him. "Anyway, I came up here to say that the guys were probably just teasing you… and, uh, Ivan's kind of an evil bastard anyway."

Arthur looked up at the taller student, biting his lip again. "Is that so?" he replied, with a shaky sort of laugh that sounded more forced than it was.

"I grew up with the dude, so I'd know," Alfred explained simply, sitting down on the bed next to Arthur. "He tried to screw with my head before too, and we're not the only ones he's done it to. In fact, most of the guys probably agreed with him 'cause they're scared of him."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Scared?" Sure, that person had been intimidating, but to think there was actually something to be afraid of…

"His family's pretty powerful, too," Alfred replied. "I don't care, as I told you earlier. So I'll be on my own as la résistance 'til the day we all graduate. Maybe longer."

"So let me get this straight," Arthur said, sighing. "Everyone in the Academy, save the staff and yourself, are behind a large man from a powerful family who hates my guts?"

Alfred considered for a moment before saying, "Well, he doesn't hate your guts probably. I'd say he's jealous, since he's not the only one from some super-powerful family attending anymore. That, and the fact he's tried to break everyone, remember? He'll mess with your head and he'll use whatever means necessary to get you to follow him quietly, but you can't listen to him, okay?"

Arthur nodded. "This is becoming more of a complicated place than I could have imagined, it seems."

"Nah, not really. It's just Ivan, after all," laughed Alfred. "Oh, and when you said the staff were an exception? He's got a lot of them, too."

"What?"

"Yeah, it's kind of unfortunate, but his mom's sort of head of the administrative council right now, so…"

"If that's the case, then this room… everything…?"

"It's 'cause your family freaking founded Sorceryville, Artie. Nothing changed really, since no one's used this room in centuries. So I heard."

"Ah."

After their conversation, Alfred stood up and headed for the door. "Oh, right," he said, stopping before actually exiting the room. "If you ever want to hang out, just knock on my door or something-I'm down the stairs and pretty much the first door on the right. The number's five-oh-five, and if I'm not in, my roommate Matt can probably tell you where I went."

"I'll remember that," Arthur replied as the blue-eyed teenager nodded, left the room, and shut the door. After that, Arthur laid back down on the bed to sort out his thoughts once again. "First day here, classes haven't started, and I've made an enemy," he mumbled, rolling over and burying his face in the pillow he'd been clawing earlier. Then, he found himself smiling a bit as he said to himself, "…and a friend."

* * *

He didn't remember falling asleep, but apparently it had happened because he woke up the next morning, face still in the pillow (how he'd managed to breathe was beyond him). Rolling over and sitting up, Arthur looked at the alarm clock that he'd brought and set on the bedside table the previous day. "Nine in the morning, huh," he read, standing up and beginning to change out of the clothes he'd slept in.

After dressing himself in fresh clothes and setting the dirty ones in a conveniently placed laundry hamper (according to the handbook, the fairies came and did laundry around noon on Sundays, but wouldn't pick clothes up off the floor so they had to be in the hamper), Arthur left the room (locking it behind him; he noted that he should have remembered to lock it before he'd gone to sleep as well) and went downstairs. According to the handbook (again, he'd skimmed it, just not the rules), the lobby area he'd been in the previous night served as a cafeteria from seven to eleven in the morning, then from noon to three, and lastly from six in the evening to eight. Each of the time periods served a different meal (breakfast, lunch, then dinner of course), although he'd heard that there was another area on campus that served various foods all day.

Arthur took full advantage of the fact that the cafeteria was free to students (everything was paid for in the enrollment fee) and, although he was disappointed that most of the foods he was used to were not served (in fact, almost everything in the cafeteria was almost exclusively found in Sorceryville) and filled his plate; there was no denying that he was hungry.

As for where to sit… he noticed that several of the people he'd met the previous night were down there, including the two brothers with the strange curls and the blonde with the slicked-back hair. He was thankful that the tallest-Ivan-was not there (at least, not that he could see), and even more so when he noticed that Alfred _was_ there, at a nearby table and waving to him, shouting, "Yo, Artie! Over here!"

Arthur ended up sitting down next to him. "Good morning," he said, while Alfred offered only another, "Yo."

He wasn't about to ask where Alfred picked up speaking like that, either. "Sleep good?" Alfred mumbled through a mouthful of what was probably some kind of eggs-Arthur was only slightly familiar with Sorceryville's cuisine.

"It's _well_, slept _well_, and not particularly," Arthur replied.

"Nightmares?"

"No."

"Ghosts?"

"No-wait, what?"

"Never mind," Alfred looked around a bit, then said more quietly. "The ghosts that are supposed to haunt this place… Sometimes I start thinking about them and can't sleep, is that what happened to you?"

"No," replied Arthur. "Besides, that is ridiculous. There aren't any ghosts around the Academy."

"Says you."

"Mhm."

The rest of the time the two were eating breakfast was relatively quiet (if one were able to ignore all the shouting and noises of the cafeteria itself, that is), with Alfred only pausing to make comments or shout to someone every now and again. "That reminds me, no one's shown you around, right?" Alfred asked once they had finished. "I'll do that, okay? Okay."

"Don't make decisions on your own if they concern other people," Arthur said calmly. "That wasn't a 'no', either; I'd actually appreciate that. Although, how can you do so if you're new to this school?"

"Most of us have been staying around here, for like, a month or more," Alfred explained, standing up. "It's part of getting us used to how the castle and stuff works, since it's magic, it's a lot more complicated than our normal houses. You just sort of… got here late."

"I assumed that I could handle it," replied Arthur, although at the same time he wondered if the castle was really all that complicated. Granted, he hadn't been around a large part of it, but at the very least he hadn't gotten lost yet.

"Roddy thought he could handle it too, and he _still _gets lost," Alfred was laughing again by now. He then stood up and grabbed Arthur's wrist. "Anyway, let's go!"

"The plates-"

"The fairies take care of it!"

With that, the two left to explore the Academy's campus.

* * *

Meanwhile, a meeting of a different sort was taking place in the castle's southern tower (which contained the school's head administrator's office, while the northern tower was an astrology classroom, the western was another classroom where the subject was questionable but was often thought to be the arts of telling the future, and the eastern was, of course, Arthur's room); this was most likely the reason that Ivan had not been at breakfast. You see, the head administrator (who seemed to hold the most authority among the six at the top of the school, despite the fact they were originally meant to be equal) was Ivan's mother, Sophia Braginski.

She often called her son into her office in order to have him report his progress in gaining standing within the Academy, amongst both the students and the faculty. Yes, it was all leading up to their larger goal; it was not only necessary to manipulate the smaller pieces, but also to break the king… who, unfortunately, due to a certain meddlesome knight, had proven more difficult to scare.

"Why a knight?" Sophia asked, twirling the white chess piece in her hand and thinking out loud.

"Excuse me, mother?" Ivan responded, not quite sure of what it had meant.

"I'll tell you why, Ivan. Why that troublesome Alfred is a knight," she continued. "It is because he moves in a pattern that no logical piece should, why would anyone move in an 'L', Ivan? Why?"

Ivan could only look at his own mother in confusion; she was the one person who still scared him, after all those years-he'd acted cold and invincible around everyone else, but could not find it within himself to confront the one who was the source of his cruelty.

"Yes… I cannot interfere with the lives of the students as I would like to, but you can, Ivan. You can correct the 'L', make it better… no, better yet, shatter it into pieces, Ivan," Sophia carried on, rambling about the various chess pieces and their uses, before finally placing the white 'knight' piece she had been waving around back on the table. "When the knight breaks…" she flicked her wrist, causing the piece to explode. "…So will the present king…" she tipped over the white 'king' piece. "…And the rightful king will take his place. _You_, Ivan." With this, she placed the black 'king' piece on the white's side of the board.

Ivan merely nodded, although he did allow himself a smile. Yes, if it was for his sake, he could do it, surely… "Alfred is too stubborn, da? Normal methods will not work on him."

"…I agree," Sophia replied after a long pause. "That's why I've been digging… and I've found several pieces, but not the ones I need to complete the puzzle. Hold on a bit longer, Ivan. Now, you're dismissed-I expect you to spend your time wisely… I haven't just given you a master key to _every single dorm room on campus_ for nothing, but be sure to return it by the day's end."

Ivan nodded and left the office, carefully closing the door behind him. Yes, he knew just what to do to break that 'king' and 'knight'…

* * *

I don't know how many people will actually read this and want to know what happens next, but Ivan might not be going to do what you think he is.

Also, interpret that last bit as you will. Is Ivan the villain here? Is Sophia?

I like having villains that talk about chess and games. They're fun to write.


	4. Half Human

I was writing out more plot for this today and I made a decision about Alfred's character in the story that didn't seem so good at the time, but I just found out something that makes it THE BEST IDEA (by accident, might I add). More about that when I reveal what the secret is. (which I only partially do in this chapter)

We find out what Ivan did with the keys, though.

And plot twist. Just cause.

* * *

"Well, and this is the assembly building," Alfred said. He had been showing Arthur around the campus for about an hour by that point, and although the campus was huge and there were probably a million important places they hadn't gone yet, he was starting to draw blanks. "That's where we're supposed to meet for our first class in a few days, so… yeah."

"Having trouble?" Arthur observed, smiling. "This is the third time you've shown me the same place."

"Oh shoot, really? Well, what about the… um, library?" Alfred asked, not being able to remember if they'd already covered that area or not.

"Twice."

"Damn, so…" it was at that point Alfred got an idea. "What about the other towers? I know you sorta live in the eastern one, but I know for a fact we haven't been to the others!" What he didn't mention is that the others, especially the southern tower, were all off-limits unless students had business there (seeing as they didn't have classes yet and the administrator hadn't called them for detention or something, this meant they were going to be breaking some rules).

Arthur had his doubts about the other towers as well, but since he kept forgetting to read that annoying student handbook (which he'd probably lost by then, to boot) he was unable to determine whether or not they were breaking the rules himself. "There's no rule against it?" he asked, although he knew that Alfred was probably set on going to the towers anyway.

"Nah," Alfred lied as he led the shorter teen up a flight of stairs.

They were only a few steps up the 'forbidden' stairs of what Arthur assumed was the southern tower (based on the maps he'd seen of the Academy before) before Alfred stopped suddenly. Arthur, who had been following close behind him due to the staircase being too narrow for them to walk side-by-side, ran smack into him. "What was that?" he snapped, somewhat irritated that Alfred hadn't even bothered to warn him.

However, it was not Alfred that spoke next, but another sickeningly familiar voice, "I was not aware that our administrator had requested to see the two of you." At that point, Arthur knew exactly why the taller student in front of him had stopped, despite the fact he was unable to see over Alfred's shoulders (Alfred being higher up on the stairs didn't help).

"She didn't, and there's more than one freaking administrator, Ivan," Alfred retaliated, taking one step up as though that was meant to look threatening.

"Not for long," commented Ivan, narrowing his eyes.

"What do you me-OH SHIT, ARTHUR, MOVE!" Alfred's puzzled question had quickly changed into a panicked yell, and Arthur didn't have time to question that either as he whipped around, dislocating his glasses in the process, and wrapped his arms around Arthur.

Green eyes wide, Arthur attempted to shout, but was interrupted by the explosion that Alfred had seemed to have anticipated; it sent them both falling down the stairs and although Arthur was relatively fine (save for a bruise here or there) due to Alfred's quick thinking, the one who had taken most of the damage was Alfred himself, and he was looking a little more than battered.

When they stopped falling at the bottom of the staircase, Alfred somehow ended up on top of Arthur (arms still wrapped around the smaller teen protectively). Forget dislocated, his glasses had flown across the room and probably at least cracked-this along with a bleeding forehead and numerous serious bruises made Arthur cry out in shock once he took a closer look.

"S'okay," mumbled Alfred, his eyes that had just moments a go been a bright blue starting to slip shut. Eventually, he lost consciousness altogether and while this was concerning, Arthur had no doubt that he would survive and be back to his usual obnoxious self the next day; this made the fact that the larger teen had just collapsed on top of him seem like a small matter next to the dread Arthur felt as he realized what the cause of the explosion had been.

"Relatively good reflexes, although if you had managed to cast a repellant charm in time, you wouldn't have been damaged," Ivan criticized as he walked down the stairs, shaking his head and speaking to the unconscious teen. He then turned to Arthur once he discovered that the one on the receiving end of his taunts was less than capable of responding.

"Disappointing that one with such a prestigious name couldn't react to my simple curse," Ivan commented.

Frankly, Arthur couldn't have cared less about that. "What the _hell_," he spat, trying to work his way out from under Alfred (unfortunately, the teen was heavy and even unconscious, his grip was like iron). "There _is_ a rule about using magic on campus, and I highly doubt there isn't one about attacking fellow students."

"Unfortunately, there is no rule against magic in cases of self-defense," Ivan smirked, and when Arthur began shouting objections as well as curses ("Like hell that was self-defense!" etc.) he continued, "Oh, any staff member would believe me that it was… in the two weeks or so before you arrived, your Alfred there earned himself a little… reputation." With that, Ivan left the room without bothering to look back at the two on the floor.

"Damnit, wake up and get off me!" Arthur shouted. Normally, fruitlessly yelling at an injured friend of his wasn't a way he reacted to things, but when that friend was on top of him and they'd just been attacked and taunted afterwards, it was a little difficult for him not to do so.

Alfred groaned and rolled off him, although it didn't look like he was going to be getting up any time soon. Making a note to ask him about the 'reputation' that Ivan had mentioned, Arthur cast a levitation spell (he highly doubted that a passing teacher would negate that spell, at least, and he knew that Alfred was too heavy to carry) and took his friend to the nurse's office (luckily, Alfred had taken him there _five_ times on their little tour).

* * *

Arthur had been right about at least one thing; Alfred had recovered almost completely by the next day and was running around the building, trying to spread his version of what had actually happened the previous day.

That's how Arthur found him again that day; it was hard not to find someone who had pretty much gone up to everyone in the entire school and explained that _Ivan_ had attacked _them_. Unfortunately, it looked like Ivan had been faster to spread the 'self-defense' story.

"I'm telling you, Ivan lied!" Alfred was yelling at a group of people in the hallways when Arthur walked up to him, grabbed his arm, and pulled him away.

"You've got some explaining to do," said Arthur, dragging the taller student a ways away from any of the other students (who were all staring at Alfred anyway) and doing his best to pin him against the wall so he couldn't randomly wander off and avoid the subject.

"Not you too, Artie! It was Ivan that attacked us, and you-"

"I knew that, Alfred. I was there," Arthur sighed. "I meant… After you collapsed, Ivan mentioned that you had some sort of 'reputation' based off something you did during your first two weeks here. Explain."

"That _bastard_," Alfred mumbled. "Okay… It's not what you think, though. Before you got here, I was trying to show some people an awesome spell that they'd never heard of before, but my mom showed me so I knew. Then. When I tried it, it was an epic fail and that's all."

"I don't believe it is."

"Huh?"

"If that truly were all, Ivan wouldn't have bothered to mention it. There's something else, so tell me."

"Oh… Um, okay. I guess it's better if you hear it from me. Well, when it backfired, it sort of hit Ivan, and he said it was on purpose so now most of the staff and some of the students have this idea that I'm out to get him," Alfred finished, looking away.

Arthur sighed again, backing away to let the taller student off the wall. "If that was all, then you could've told me," he said slowly, blinking. "Besides, if I was the only one who wasn't here and therefore didn't know it, I could have very well heard the wrong version from anyone here."

"You trust me, then?"

"More than Ivan, at least," replied Arthur. In reality, it was hard not to trust the one person in the entire Academy who would actually talk to him without glaring daggers or being nervous. "In the future, tell me these things."

Alfred blinked and looked around. "…Okay," he said after a pause. "And if you're gonna trust me, I'll trust you! Come on!" With that he grabbed Arthur's hand and started dragging him elsewhere.

"What are you doing now?"

"I'll explain everything when we're alone, I promise!"

* * *

"No way, you actually believed him?" elsewhere, a certain albino was having a conversation with Ludwig, Feliciano and one almost perpetually invisible blonde. The question had been directed at said blonde.

"I-It's just that he's my brother and all," the blonde replied quietly. "Sorta."

"Yeah, but Mattie, I don't believe every stupid thing West says!" the albino, Gilbert, shouted. 'West' referred to his brother, Ludwig, and although most people might not have understood the nickname, it had to do with some game or something from their childhood.

Matthew, the blonde, blinked, unsure of how to respond to that. "Ve, why 'sorta'?" Feliciano put in.

"Um," Matthew paused. "Well, he's my half-brother… You know how we have different surnames…"

"Oh, so you've got different fathers and the same mother?" a voice from behind Matthew observed. "That's usually how surnames work, da?"

It was Ivan, who had just happened to have returned from 'somewhere' at that moment and decided to investigate their conversation. This could end up being useful to him further down the line, especially if his mother hadn't already uncovered information regarding it.

"Um," Matthew had become immensely more uncomfortable once Ivan had popped up, and wondered if he should really say it. "Well, yes. The thing is, Jones is mom's-" he stopped. No, Ivan really didn't need to know this.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that-ain't Jones your mom's maiden name?" Gilbert said, causing Matthew to groan and face-palm.

_Gilbert, why can't you take a hint and STOP TALKING?_ Matthew thought, not saying it because he'd probably end up with a lot more reply than he wanted.

"Oh?" Ivan was _really_ interested now. If Alfred had taken his mother's maiden name instead of his father's surname, that would mean…

"W-We know who Al's dad is, so it's not like that!" said Matthew quickly; he was trying to erase any assumptions that Alfred might have been an illegitimate child. "Mom and him had a big fight, is all…" that last bit, however, was a lie and he knew it.

"About what?" Feliciano asked innocently.

"Um."

"Feliciano, stop prying. Actually, that goes to everyone," Ludwig put in, saving Matthew from having to answer.

"That's so un-awesome, West. I wanted to know."

Without another word, Ivan left, smiling. He was going to dig deeper into this, find the truth. He would look patiently through the records, through anything… and if need be, he would use Matthew to get the information he needed. The pieces to complete the puzzle, as his mother called them.

* * *

Alfred had taken Arthur up to the eastern tower, with the excuse that no one else would hear them if they were in Arthur's room (whereas Matthew could easily come back to their own room with friends or something). So, Arthur unlocked the door and they went inside.

"Arthur, I…" Alfred started as the two sat on the bed. "You're probably going to hear this one way or another, so I'm telling you. You know my half-brother, Matthew?"

"You mentioned you had a roommate named Matt," commented Arthur.

"Yeah, well, his name's Matthew, and he's my half-brother. He's a year younger than me, but we're going to school here at the same time because I was behind," Alfred explained. "He's a full wizard, but I'm not. Our mom's a witch, and his dad's a wizard, but my dad wasn't and-"

"If you're trying to tell me that your spellcasting ability is poor because you're half-human, stop," Arthur interrupted. "I'm half-mortal myself, after all."

Alfred looked at him for a moment, then away again. "Yeah… But I'm not half-human, either. That's why I took mom's last name."

Arthur blinked, looking the other over in confusion. Alfred certainly looked normal from his point of view: dirty blonde hair that stuck up at one point in a cowlick, bright blue eyes, glasses (which were probably spares, since the others had been broken in Ivan's attack). "I'm afraid I don't follow," he said.

"The reason I suck at magic, and why I look normal, it's this," with that, Alfred pulled up the sleeve of his jacket to reveal a small black tattoo on his forearm; it looked like one of those ancient black magic circles (the kind that most households didn't teach as it was unnecessary by those times' standards). "It's supposed to seal… that…"

Gripping the bed sheets with shock and shaking, Arthur looked at it. His grandfather had been old-fashioned enough to teach him about the magical arrays and their uses (in current times arrays had been abandoned in favor of incantations and simple spells that only required body movement, so it was old-fashioned to use or learn arrays) so he knew what that one meant, although he was having trouble believing it. "You can't be serious," he gasped.

"Matthew knows too, since he's my half-brother and all," Alfred said, smiling weakly. "I figured you should know before you really got attached to me, since I'm one of those… You're welcome to hate me now." He looked away.

"I wouldn't hate you because of that," Arthur replied, regaining composure. "I might because you _scared the living daylights out of me_, having me think that there was something seriously wrong with you!"

"But-"

"No, and I wouldn't become your friend just because of what you were, whether or not I realized it. That seal is there to ensure that, correct?"

Alfred let out a breath finally, having been holding it in fear of rejection. "Yeah, it is."

"Then there's nothing to worry about."

"It sometimes gets through, though," mumbled Alfred. "The feelings…"

"That's fine. Feelings are a human thing, too. It may just be your feelings, not the feelings of the creature that is sealed away."

"…Yeah."

* * *

Ivan found himself nearly running up the stairs to the southern tower in enthusiasm. Knocking cautiously on the door to his mother's office, he heard the "come in" and opened it, stepping inside.

"Ivan, I've uncovered another piece," Sophia announced enthusiastically.

"I have as well."

"In fact," Sophia continued. "My pieces are all thanks to you. It was because of your… observation devices, whatever the hell they were called. The ones you put in Arthur's room."

"Is that so?" Ivan asked, smiling. He'd known using those keys to place cameras in the Crowley/Kirkland kid's room would have paid off-he'd put them in a few other rooms the previous day before he'd returned the keys, but that was the most important.

"It appears our 'knight' and 'king' are having a rather interesting discussion at the moment," Sophia took out a screen (which resembled a television) and gestured to the image of Arthur's room, where both Alfred and Arthur were still sitting on the bed talking. "Although, there is one problem. I cannot identify that tattoo, and they haven't mentioned what it is for."

"I believe it's for a seal," Ivan pointed out. "Although I do not know either… Perhaps I could find out?"

"Right. Do that," ordered Sophia. "Ask everyone, including the staff. If nobody knows, I assume you know who to force it out of." With that, she handed him a slip of paper she'd drawn the symbol onto.

"Arthur?"

"Or Matthew, since Alfred said that he knew as well. Dismissed."

* * *

I'm not sure why I didn't say what exactly Alfred is, so you'll have to wait until Ivan figures it out.

The 'feelings' are significant if things go as planned. Arthur is trying to persuade Alfred that they're normal because... Well, Alfred's confusing one feeling with another since he doesn't know much about either. More on that later.


	5. Stress is Just Wonderful

In which Matthew freaks out and two more characters come in.

* * *

Alfred left the room shortly after their discussion, mumbling something about finding Matthew. He walked down the stairs and ran across several hallways before reaching the lobby, where at that moment dinner was being served (he wondered if Arthur was going to remember) so naturally almost all the students were gathered there.

"Hey, Mattie!" he yelled once he spotted his brother among a group of others, running over to them.

"Oh, hi Al," Matthew replied, trying to sound normal despite the guilt he felt about revealing a large part of his brother's secret earlier.

"If it isn't Mister-"

"Cut the crap, thanks, Gilbert," Alfred said quickly, not allowing the albino to finish. "I didn't pick the fight with Ivan, but if you want to believe that, then go ahead and be an idiot, I really don't care."

"As if the awesome me could be an idiot," snorted Gilbert, although he quickly went back to yelling about himself to a couple of students.

"The 'awesome' Gilbert aside," Matthew sighed. "What did you want, Alfred?"

Alfred looked around, although it was a useless action (seeing as they were surrounded by people; the lobby really was crowded) and said simply, "I told Arthur."

"Told Arthur what?" Matthew asked. With his brother, he could never tell whether it was something serious or something completely ridiculous, so of course he had no idea.

"You know," Alfred said seriously, tapping the part of his jacket that covered his forearm.

"Alfred," now Matthew was worried. Telling someone that they'd just met a secret of that magnitude was downright reckless. "You know that's a bad thing, right?"

"Nah, it's cool," replied Alfred. "Arthur's not gonna tell anyone."

"Alfred that's what you said about the last one and _why are we having this conversation here_?" Matthew said, somewhat frustrated.

Alfred had told people in Sorceryville that secret before-four, to be exact. Four people that he'd considered friends and had known his entire life (as opposed to the three days or so he'd known Arthur). Four people that all, in the end, over reacted and betrayed him in one way or another; whether it was trying to kill him themselves or making trouble in some other way. In the end, each one had their memories erased by magic, but not before causing severe damage to Alfred's ability to trust others.

Somehow, though, Alfred had always managed to trust again in a year or two, and told another friend, and another. That cycle continued up until about three years before Alfred and Matthew enrolled in the Magical Academy, with a particularly bad incident involving a demon hunter being the father of the person Alfred had befriended.

Yes, a demon hunter. Even in a town of monsters and sorcerers, there was no place for the generally evil creatures that preyed upon the bodies and souls of others, and although there were several types of creatures considered demons, Sorceryville had no place for any of them.

Matthew just couldn't believe that Alfred was ready to go through all that again, and on top of that, they were discussing it in a room full of people.

"I just told you, but you're the one freaking out," Alfred pointed out.

"Of course I'm freaking out, Al," Matthew said in his odd quiet-but-utterly-furious voice. "Have you forgotten-"

"Hey, you guys!" Gilbert cut in, fresh from his conversation with several others about how awesome he was (amongst other things that he didn't think were as important). "Did you hear about the thing Ivan's going around showing everyone?"

"Huh?" both of the brothers were somewhat puzzled, since neither had heard of it (it wasn't a surprise with Alfred, who'd spent a lot of time alone with Arthur, but for Matthew, who had been socializing nearly all afternoon despite the fact everyone seemed to forget he was there, it was a shock).

"'Kay, so the awesome me will tell you," Gilbert declared. "Ivan's going around asking anyone he can get a hold of what this freaky symbol he's got on a piece of paper is used for. Get this: nobody knows! I didn't see it, but I bet I'm so awesome I could just look at it and know what it's for."

Matthew and Alfred looked at each other, both thinking the same thought. "Couldn't be," Alfred said simply.

"No idea what you're talkin' about," Gilbert commented. "But whatever. I think he showed it to Feli and West earlier, so ask them if you wanna know more." With that, he left to spread the information (and his awesome) around the entire room.

"Mattie, I know what you're thinking," Alfred said quickly. "Swear to god, I only told Arthur, and we can trust him. Besides, if it were Arthur who'd given a picture of that symbol to Ivan, then Ivan wouldn't be going around asking what it was."

He had a point there. Matthew decided it was useless to press further and sighed, "Al, I don't know why you told him, but I hope you're sure."

"I am."

* * *

It only took Arthur a few minutes of Alfred being gone and a glance at the clock to figure out that it was about time for dinner to be served in the lobby. Although he stood up and walked to the door, he hesitated to actually go out. If he followed Alfred that closely, wouldn't it look strange? It was only six thirty anyway, so he had plenty of time, but… he bit his lip and opened the door, deciding that he wasn't about to sit alone just because of that.

He locked the door behind him as per usual and proceeded down the stairway. However, instead of being able to proceed to the ground floor and the lobby, he stopped on the dormitory floor for a moment to look around and make a mental note of where Alfred's room was located, just in case. The second he left the staircase, however, Arthur regretted that decision.

Arthur found himself slammed against a nearby wall, with his attacker clamping a hand over his mouth to block the shouting that would've normally followed. In a panic, he lashed out with his arm to cast a spell in self-defense, but it went off in the completely wrong direction (due to his lack of focus) and missed.

"Stop struggling, and I won't hurt you," hissed his attacker, who, once he calmed down, he realized he didn't know. It was a girl with long platinum blonde hair (a shade very similar to Ivan's, Arthur noted with a slight shudder) and dark blue eyes which glared up at him, as she was at least ten or twelve centimeters (about six inches or so) shorter than him. Her strength in comparison to her stature, however, was nothing short of shocking.

"Who are you?" he gasped after she took her hand off of his mouth.

The girl didn't answer immediately, instead taking out a knife and pressing it to his neck. "My name's Natalia," she said simply.

Arthur attempted to press himself further against the wall to avoid the cold steel of the knife at his neck, but there wasn't exactly much space to work with. "What do you want with me?" he asked. "This is-"

"I am simply doing a favor for my beloved brother," Natalia replied, not giving him an opportunity to finish. "He wishes to know about the symbol on your friend's arm."

Arthur froze. That was one thing he definitely could not tell Ivan, or anyone really. To do so would have been disastrous for both him and Alfred. "I don't know what you're going on about," he lied. That was probably a mistake, since at that point Natalia pressed the knife closer to his neck, even letting a small trickle of blood loose and running down his pale skin.

"My brother told me you do, and he does not lie," Natalia hissed, narrowing her eyes.

Arthur desperately searched his thoughts for an answer that wouldn't get him killed or injured further. As far as he saw it, there was no way he could respond without letting slip Alfred's secret… but that wasn't an option, either. "It's… er… A rather ancient symbol," he began. "I was surprised to see something like that on his arm, but I don't know what it is used for." Yes, that was suitable-apparently Natalia thought so too, because she removed the knife from his neck.

"Thank you for cooperating," Natalia said simply, her expression becoming unreadable. "If, however, you are lying to me, expect my return." With that, the scary girl turned and walked downstairs.

Arthur sighed in relief, and then realized what exactly had just happened. Someone had attacked him and asked about the symbol on Alfred's arm; someone who claimed to be Ivan's sister. That meant Ivan knew about the symbol as well, and Arthur doubted Alfred went around showing people (in fact, he was always wearing that jacket which covered his forearm, so nobody would have seen it on accident).

"Damn," he mumbled to himself. He decided it would be good to tell Alfred about this later, before… _Damn_. If Ivan found out what the mark meant and confronted Alfred, wouldn't the logical conclusion be that he, Arthur, being the only person who knew about it, had…? _Damn_. He started to walk quickly downstairs, neglecting to remember the fact that there was still a small amount of blood leaking from the cut on his neck.

* * *

Alfred finished eating dinner quickly so he could get back upstairs and tell Arthur about what Ivan was going around doing, although the excuse he gave Matthew was, "I'm kinda tired, so I'm gonna go to bed early." Since he didn't want his brother to worry anymore, really.

To his relief, instead of having to head all the way up to the tower, he encountered Arthur on the staircase. "Arthur! I'm glad I found you, 'cause Ivan-" he paused, frowning as he noticed the blood on his friend's neck. "What happened to you?"

"It'll heal on its own," replied Arthur quickly. "That's not important, though… Ivan knows you have that symbol on your arm; I don't know how."

"Is that it? Did that son of a bitch attack you?" Alfred asked. "Man, I'm going to kick his ass-"

"Listen to me," Arthur said simply. "No, it wasn't Ivan, it was his sister. I don't think it would be wise to start a fight, especially given the way that the staff of this place seem to view you. Lastly, I'm more concerned about the fact that Ivan knows about the existence of that mark, even if he seems to have no idea what it is."

"Oh," was all Alfred could say in reply. He was still upset about the whole Arthur-bleeding-from-the-neck thing, but at the same time relieved that he really could trust him. Despite being attacked, that Arthur had kept the secret was incredible. "Well, at least go to the nurse's office, Artie, geez."

"Are you listening to a word I'm saying?" Arthur sighed, although he did end up letting Alfred drag him to the nurse's office without much complaint. He was still worried about Alfred's secret, but it appeared that the other wasn't even going to think about that while Arthur still had that cut.

* * *

"Brother… I did it… Now we can get married… married," while Alfred was off dragging Arthur to the clinic (he seemed to drag Arthur a lot of places), Natalia was scratching ruts into the door of Ivan's dorm room and chanting the word 'married'.

Ivan was inside, hiding behind his bed. Why was nearly everyone in his family psychotic? "Go away," he mumbled. "Tell me what you found and go away… I don't want to marry you!"

There was a pause before the door shattered into pieces (due to something Natalia did, likely a spell, but in the event it wasn't it was still some terrifying shit). "Brother… I've gotten rid of the door that separates us," Natalia purred, entering the room and latching onto Ivan's arm. "Now we can get married and-"

"The information, Sister," Ivan said as he continued inching away and trying to pull his arm free.

Natalia blinked and said, "He said it was some sort of ancient symbol… but he didn't know what it meant. Now can we get-"

Ivan pulled his arm free and quickly fled the room after that. He wasn't about to stick around Natalia for long; especially since the only thing she'd 'found out' was something that anyone could have told him (and several people had) along with the fact that Arthur apparently wasn't willing to tell them anything. If it was something ancient though, there was someone he could ask… Smiling, he wondered why he hadn't thought of it sooner.

* * *

Usually, sorcerers of both genders lived incredibly long lives compared to humans and even some monsters. Life expectancies for wizards or witches in Sorceryville generally ranged from around five hundred years to two thousand (depending on things like genetics, stress, etc), and a sorcerer's body could remain young right up until their death through use of spells (this meant most people were unaware of when their lives would end). Incantations had replaced arrays roughly a thousand years before Ivan and the rest had been born, so he simply had to find someone old enough to have learned it (someone who was willing to tell him about it).

There were several ways to go about finding someone old enough, although Ivan doubted that any of the staff members at the Academy were a day over three hundred (including his mother, who was roughly two hundred and thirty eight). In fact, he had someone in mind already.

After getting permission to leave the campus and go into town, Ivan copied down the address he needed from what was basically Sorceryville's equivalent of the phonebook and called for a carriage into town.

Once he arrived at the edge of Sorceryville, he quietly thanked the scarecrow-driver (the same one who had brought Arthur to the Academy, incidentally, since use of said scarecrow was free for students) and walked the rest of the way. Finally, it was in sight: a large mansion, probably big enough for several inhabitants (although its owner currently lived there alone, with his only visitor from a housekeeper once a week) with a slender iron fence around it and the yard. The gate was intricate but rusted, hinges creaking as it swung gently back and forth in the wind.

The owner of the mansion was plenty old enough to know about magical arrays, and Ivan had plenty to confirm that. Although the owner being approximately one thousand, two hundred years old would place his date of birth in the era where those things were taught, that was not the confirmation that was the reason Ivan chose him.

As he stepped through the gate and walked up the cobblestone path to the door, he couldn't help but smile. Arthur had lied to Natalia about knowing the symbol's meaning, but that was pointless next to the evidence that he did know. Ivan rang the doorbell and listened patiently to the long, low tune that played out afterwards before the mansion's owner answered with a quiet, wispy voice, "Yes?"

"Excuse me, sir," Ivan began, taking out the slip of paper with that diagram drawn onto it. "I'm a student, and one of our assignments had to do with ancient magical arrays, but I was unable to identify this one and was told you could… This is true, da?" Of course it was true; this mansion's owner was none other than Edward Crowley.

Arthur's grandfather and teacher.

* * *

And after all that, Alfred's actual SPECIES isn't revealed (although I mentioned that he's half some sort of nonspecific demon, but it is a special kind of demon, so wait a bit). I named the grandfather Edward BECAUSE I CAN, and I didn't base much of this off anything other than my own mind, so.


	6. Night

…In which I finally reveal what the hell Alfred is.

Also, a bit of mentioned PruCan.

* * *

Although Edward questioned for a moment why that Academy would assign a paper on something that was almost no longer taught, he felt fine with explaining it to the young (although tall) teenager that had appeared at his doorstep and asked about it. That symbol, as well… It was a very specific array, if he remembered correctly. "Come in," he said quietly.

Ivan followed Edward into what appeared to be a living room and, as per invitation, sat down on the couch. "It takes more than a bit to explain, you see," Edward commented, sitting down in a large armchair across from the teen.

In the light, Edward's appearance was somewhat surprising-Ivan hadn't quite expected an old man (since most sorcerers maintained youth through spells until the day they dropped dead) with wrinkled skin and gray hair as was the person that greeted him; it was true, however, that Edward only looked to be around sixty five or seventy rather than one thousand. "Those youth spells," Edward said, noticing the expression on Ivan's face. "They decrease your lifespan."

Ivan merely nodded, and asked, "So… the array?"

"Hm, right," Edward then began to explain. "It is a symbol that was rare, even in the days when they were used; in my opinion, they should still be using them, or at least teaching them… I taught my grandson about it, actually, and he's going to that same Academy-why didn't you ask him about it?"

Ivan held back a sigh, realizing that it would be a bit more difficult to get a simple answer that he'd wanted. "He was busy," answered Ivan simply.

"Oh, that's like him," Edward commented. "So where was I? Right, that array and being rare… not a lot of people used it because the purpose was to seal away a creature that was possible, but didn't exist… you know why, kid?"

"…"

"I'll tell you. It was because those kind are the things that it's clear what they are when they're born, and most of the people of Sorceryville don't appreciate that kind of child," Edward continued, looking around as if something were going to jump out of the walls and attack him for saying that.

"What kind of child?"

"Now I've gone and forgotten the name… but they're stillborn, despite the fact that they live," Edward seemed to be considering how to best explain now. "They develop heartbeats and things a few years after, but most of them don't live that long. Quite simply, the parents or perhaps the midwife kills them; oh, midwife isn't the term any more, is it? Whoever delivers the child, that is to say."

"…Why is that?"

"Darn, I got off-topic. The array seals the abilities of that kind of creature because normally, it would be dangerous. The ones who live have their powers sealed… With that, a dangerous alternate personality is suppressed."

"Dangerous?" Ivan was becoming tired of asking simple questions and getting irrelevant answers. As interesting as the conversation was, he wanted to know what species the old man was talking about, and the way Edward was rambling on bothered him.

Edward seemed to remember something at that point, however, since he stood up and snatched a thick leather book off of a nearby shelf before sitting back down with it. Flipping through the pages furiously, he finally found what he had been looking for. "Cambion," he said simply, pointing to the page he'd flipped to.

Ivan looked confused; since that wasn't a word he'd heard before. Noticing this as well, Edward sighed and explained, "In ancient times, there was a creature called the incubus… oh, there was a female counterpart called a succubus, but the array you brought is specifically for a cambion that was sired by an incubus. Anyway, they were some sort of demon that raped sleeping humans-mortals, that is. Witches are usually more intelligent than that, so if… Wait, that array was definitely created by a sorcerer to seal a half-incubus, so it makes sense that the mother would be a witch, right? In which case, love is an issue to be discussed…"

Oh, this was better than Ivan had expected. Suddenly, listening to that old man's rambling on was all worth it. If people knew that Alfred was that kind of creature, then they would surely grow to hate him… it was one thing to be half-demon, which would usually mean that half of your being was a murderous entity, but to be half of a demon that tended to seduce and trick others… it was brilliant.

"Does that answer your question, kid?"

"Da, it does-thank you very much," Ivan then left the mansion, ready to plan out his next move.

* * *

Arthur was released from the clinic very shortly after he'd arrived, since his wound had only required a few bandages (which were earning him some very strange looks from the people who passed him in the hallway). Now, he could talk to Alfred about the issue with Ivan and that insane Natalia girl. They went to Arthur's room as they normally did whenever they needed to have a private discussion and sat the bed, all normal things.

"How do you think Ivan knew?" Alfred asked.

Arthur sighed and replied, "If I knew, would I be as worried about it as I am?"

Alfred shrugged. "Yes."

"No, I wouldn't," Arthur said in an attempt to correct him. "In any case, discovering the method Ivan used takes priority."

"So, how do we do that?"

"I don't know that, either…"

Alfred let out a loud sigh and flopped backwards onto the bed. "Man," he groaned. "This whole thing is like… made of fail. Made of fail, Arthur."

Arthur blinked, trying to come up with a logical way to correct the other teen's expression. "'Made of fail' isn't exactly proper grammar, Alfred."

"Grammar nazi," Alfred whined accusingly.

Where did Alfred keep getting these odd expressions from? Arthur decided it was best not to ask (out loud), although he resolved to continue correcting the other when necessary.

"Oh, that reminds me," Alfred said as he sat up quickly. "Can I stay here tonight?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why?"

"Well, Gilbert told me to stay out of me and Matt's room," Alfred explained. "He's been screwing Mattie-don't make that face, I never said I approved either-for like, a year, and wanted to do it with him tonight, but he couldn't do it in his room because Ludwig yelled at him about it so he said he was going to kick my ass if-"

"Stop, just stop," Arthur requested, his face turning red as he listened to the explanation. "I understand already, so stop before I'm scarred for life."

"'Kay, so can I? I can sleep on the windowsill or something-I mean seriously, there are so many pillows on that thing and the sill itself is _huge_."

"I noticed. Er, I suppose you can stay, then."

Alfred relocated to the windowsill at that point. "Thanks," he said, then after a moment, decided to change the subject. "You didn't have dinner, did you?"

"Yes, Alfred, I had dinner," Arthur replied sarcastically. "In the five minutes between when I was getting attacked by a psychotic witch and when you began dragging me to the clinic, I-"

"Geez, I get it," said Alfred quickly, not giving him a chance to finish. "C'mon, I bet we can still get you something. Maybe if you eat, you won't be so angry all the time."

"I do eat," Arthur replied defensively. "Besides, my lunch was plenty large enough to hold me over until tomorrow." He tossed a couple of extra blankets at Alfred and then turned out the room's light. "Go to sleep."

* * *

CRASH!

"Oh, shit…"

Arthur woke with a start, glancing around his darkened room in confusion. Although he couldn't quite make out anything in the pitch-black room (what time was it?), he was fairly certain that he'd heard a crashing noise; that was definitely why he'd woken up. "Alfred?" he mumbled, wondering if the other had woken up as well.

"Oh, uh, 'morning Artie," Alfred replied quietly.

Based off where his voice was coming from, Alfred wasn't on the windowsill anymore. "Alfred, what the hell is going on?"

The lights suddenly flickered on (Alfred had hit the switch, apparently). "Gah!" Arthur blinked rapidly, trying to adjust his eyes to the sudden brightness. Although, once he could see, he noticed two things: one, Alfred was _definitely_ not on the windowsill, but on top of the _wardrobe_ of all places (Arthur wondered how he'd even gotten up there, even if he was half-demon) and two, Alfred had knocked a plant off of said wardrobe (probably while climbing onto it). That explained the crash, at least.

"Bloody hell," Arthur commented. "I repeat, Alfred. What the hell is going on?"

"I got bored," Alfred replied simply. "I only sleep for like three hours, since I'm a cambion. The rest of the time I was looking through your room."

_Don't get angry, don't yell, he probably has an explanation for that as well_, Arthur told himself in an attempt to calm down. "Why, pray tell, would you do that?"

"I woke up a while ago and spent about half an hour thinking about how freaking bored I was," explained Alfred, although he wasn't making any move to get off of the wardrobe. "Then I thought I like… smelled something weird. So I started looking, and I found this." He held out a small, silver box.

"On top of the wardrobe?" Arthur attempted to identify what Alfred was holding, but it was simply too small, or too far away… Perhaps he was still half-asleep. "Besides, what…?" He wasn't sure how to ask 'what kind of smell' without sounding odd. 'How' wasn't the issue either; Arthur knew that cambions had senses far beyond that of humans (and he was sure that seal didn't handle everything).

"Yeah, and it sort of smells like… well, something that shouldn't be in your room," Alfred wasn't about to say what it really was; that _would_ be weird (even if he couldn't help his senses). "It looks like something from the mortal realm, so I thought you'd know what it is." He tossed the boxlike object to Arthur.

Catching it, Arthur was able to identify it rather quickly (what with getting a better look at it and all). "It's a bloody _video camera_," he hissed.

"…A what?"

"This, Alfred, is how Ivan knew," Arthur said quietly. "A video camera is a device that is used to record or to transmit… video, and often audio as well, to another source."

Alfred slid off the top of the wardrobe, landing firmly with his feet on the floor. "That bastard!" he exclaimed; he still wasn't exactly clear on what a 'video camera' was, but he had understood the 'this is how Ivan knew' part.

"Alfred?"

"Yeah?"

"Before you go do something rash, please consider the fact that it is…" Arthur glanced at the clock. "Three in the morning. Now, as a normal person, I would like to be _asleep_ right now. So, if you would kindly hold off until the morning… Wait, do you even need to be here right now?"

"Huh?"

"If it's three in the bloody morning, then wouldn't your brother and his… er, boyfriend be finished?"

"I don't want to wake them up."

"So it is not alright to wake _them_ up, but it _is_ alright to wake _me_ up. By climbing onto the bloody wardrobe and knocking a plant off the top, no less."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'd say me finding the whatever-it-is makes this a pretty productive evening."

Arthur sighed and turned the camera off, placing it on the bedside table. "You can stay, but don't wake me up again," he said as he turned off the light and climbed back underneath his bed sheets.

It took a few minutes for Alfred to navigate his way back over to the windowsill (without knocking anything over, that is), but once he did, he decided to say something (despite the fact Arthur was already pretty upset over being woken up). "…Hey Arthur?"

"Mmf," Arthur had already fallen almost completely asleep; the fact that he was underneath about a million sheets didn't help.

Alfred considered whether or not he should finish, although in the end he decided that if Arthur was asleep it wouldn't matter much anyway. So, he curled up on the cushioned windowsill and tried to go back to sleep.

* * *

If you're wondering how Alfred can sleep on the windowsill, I already described it (back in like, chapter 2) as being one of those huge, cushion-covered things (which are actually okay to sleep on, I've done so before). So yeah.


	7. Field Test Part 1: Surprise Assignment

Spell-check doesn't recognize arse as a word. Don't ask. (IT DOESN'T RECOGNIZE SEALAND EITHER)

Also, much thanks to everyone who has favorited/reviewed/just plain read/etc! It gives me the energy I need to keep on typing!

I finished this chapter in the school library this morning… too bad the school's filter blocks this site.

* * *

The next morning Arthur woke up slowly, sitting up in bed and allowing himself some time to adjust to the sunlight that filtered into the room through the window. That was before he realized that Alfred didn't appear to be in the room; perhaps he had left when it got to be morning? No, that wasn't it either-the next second Alfred came bursting through the door with a tray in his hands, shouting, "Hey Arthur, you can wake up now-Oh. You're awake."

"Good morning," Arthur mumbled, glancing at the tray. "What's that for?"

"You missed breakfast," replied Alfred as he set the tray down on the bedside table and pointed at the clock (which read 12:33pm). "I brought some back for you, 'cause you didn't want to wake up when it was actually time for breakfast."

Arthur vaguely remembered Alfred shouting something earlier, but he'd ignored it. "Thanks," he said quietly, reaching over to start eating. Then something clicked in his head. "Wait, you didn't wake me up until _twelve thirty in the afternoon_? Great, my internal clock's probably completely… What are you doing now?"

The last part was added due to the fact that Alfred was now rifling through pretty much every stack of papers or drawer in the room. "I was just making sure that son-of-a-bitch Ivan didn't sneak in while I was gone and put more of those video camera things in here," he explained. "You're a heavy sleeper, so he could've. I was kind of worried and stuff."

"You are an idiot, did you know that?" Arthur sighed, although he appreciated the caution on Alfred's part, he thought that he would've at least woken up if Ivan were in his room (which was, admittedly, a terrifying thought). He'd never been a heavy sleeper either… although he assumed that he was just tired from the entire 'woken up by an idiot at three in the bloody morning' episode from last night.

"I'm not an idiot, I'm a hero!" Alfred declared with more energy than should have been logical on three hours of sleep; frankly, Arthur didn't give a damn whether he was a cambion or not, _how could he be so lively all the time_? It had been about four days since they'd met, and at no point during those four days had he seen Alfred tired or depressed (although he'd gotten close about the point Alfred revealed his species, something quickly fixed by acceptance of that fact). It was unnatural.

Suddenly, there was a light knock on the door as a quiet voice asked from the other side, "Arthur Kirkland and Alfred Jones? Are you two in there?"

"One moment, please," Arthur slid out of bed and took a pair of pants out of his wardrobe, pulling them on over the boxers he'd gone to sleep in. Once he was properly clothed (at the very least not standing around in his underwear), he opened the door. "Yes?"

Outside was a relatively short girl (shorter than the one who had attacked Arthur before) with brown hair that was tied back neatly into a bun. Although at first he considered the possibility of her being a student that he simply hadn't met yet, that theory was quickly disproved as he realized that this girl was wearing what appeared to be a maid dress. "I was sent to inform you of the field examination that is occurring today," she explained. "Although it was in the handbook, there were some in the administrative staff that recommended we inform the students and collect their choices."

So this person worked at the school, and had just brought up the handbook that Arthur kept forgetting to read thoroughly. Ignoring the fact that Alfred had also come to the door and was now leaning on him from behind, he asked, "Is that so? I'm afraid I was completely unaware of it."

"That's normal," the maid replied. "Anyway, the field examination exists to complement the written one you took to get into the Magical Academy. There is no consequence for failing if you did well on the written exam, but it is recommended you try your best in any case. The exam itself is relatively simple: you accept an assignment from our list and then complete it without sustaining major injury."

Arthur frowned. "Is it that dangerous?"

"If it makes you more comfortable, there are assignments that you may do with a partner," said the maid, glancing at Alfred momentarily, and then back to Arthur. "Also, for the person or team that completes their assignment the best-this has to do with the difficulty or the assignment and how cleanly it is completed-there is a prize to be awarded at the start-of-the-year festival. Difficulties range from A to F, with A being the most difficult."

"Alright," Arthur said as the maid handed him a sheet of paper with several assignments and their details listed on it. "Ah, and when will we actually be doing this?"

"Today, once you are properly prepared."

"Thanks," Arthur began to read off the paper.

_..._

_Lost Three-Headed Dog_

_Details: Retrieve a three-__headed__ dog from the woods; dog has brown fur and blue eyes on the middle head, other heads have green. Dog is large and may become violent._

_Rank: C_

_Team Project: No_

_..._

_Collect Basilisk Venom_

_Details: Basilisk is already in captivity, collect venom. DO NOT GET BITTEN OR LOOK IN THE EYES._

_Rank: B_

_Team Project: No_

_..._

_Find Lost Ring_

_Details: The local packrat has lost a valuable ring, help him clean up and find it._

_Rank: E_

_Team Project: No_

_..._

_Exorcise Evil Spirits_

_Details: Banish many evil spirits from a home in the Mortal Realm._

_Rank: C_

_Team Project: No_

_..._

_Capture a Dragon_

_Details: A dragon has escaped into the Mortal Realm, so capture it and bring it back to Sorceryville (must be released into wild once in magical realm)._

_Rank: A_

_Team Project: Yes_

_..._

_Erase Evidence_

_Details: A mortal has acquired photographic evidence of magic, sneak into their home and destroy the evidence._

_Rank: C_

_Team Project: No_

_..._

_Investigate Disappearances_

_Details: Sorceryville locals who have gone hiking in the nearby mountains have been vanishing recently. Investigate and put a stop to these disappearances if possible._

_Rank: A_

_Team Project: Yes_

_..._

It seemed that most of these assignments were simple chores, although some appeared to be more dangerous. He supposed it would be simple enough to pick a simple one and get it out of the way, but then again… Alfred was looking over his shoulder at the list, and the idiot would probably pick whatever looked most difficult and get himself killed-that wasn't an option.

"Me and Arthur want to do this 'investigate disappearances' thing!" Alfred exclaimed suddenly.

Of course he was going to say that. "Alfred, don't make my decision for me."

"But if we do that one we can be HEROES, Artie! We can make the mountains safe again for all the people and stuff!"

"The part that concerns me is that whatever is causing the disappearances has been able to take _sorcerers_ and _creatures_, Alfred. If it were just humans-"

The maid coughed quietly, as if to remind the two arguing teenagers of her presence. "Your decision, please," she requested calmly.

"Please, Arthur?" Alfred whined.

"Fine, git."

The maid nodded. "In that case, I will reserve that assignment for the two of you. Please come to the main office when you are prepared, and please prepare immediately." With that, she turned and vanished on the spot.

"Funny how the staff members are allowed to use magic ain't it?" Alfred commented after the maid had left. He stepped out onto the staircase. "Well, see ya at the main office."

"Fine." after Alfred had left, Arthur closed the door and began actually preparing; that consisted of getting dressed for the day (he still had to get out of the t-shirt he'd slept in and into something more suitable). He shed the t-shirt and pulled on a white button-down shirt, quickly snapping the buttons into place, then put on a green sweater vest over it. Normally, he would've bothered with a tie, but considering Alfred had committed them to going traipsing through the mountains, he had to pick something comfortable. Comfortable meant mildly warm as well; the mountains outside Sorceryville could get cold (although it was currently summer, so thick jackets weren't needed).

After getting dressed, he began to walk downstairs. Although he wasn't quite sure what lay ahead, eventually he decided that what was going to happen would, and if he ever started to regret it, that it was he who had decided to go along with Alfred. Investigating disappearances, though… he had to wonder if the school set these events up. How else would they get such a thing done in one day?

Reaching the main office, he stepped inside to see that it was extremely crowded. Despite that, it was still easy to find Alfred in the crowd (it helped that the taller blonde was waving at him and shouting, "Hey Arthur! Over here!"). The blue-eyed teen shoved to the crowd to reach Arthur, holding a slip of paper. "This's all the info for our exam," Alfred explained as he handed the paper to Arthur.

Arthur's green eyes widened in shock. "W-Wait, Alfred-" he stumbled over the words, realizing that there was a symbol on the paper that would…

Alfred grabbed him by the wrist and with a 'pop!' the two of them vanished.

* * *

Arthur hit the ground hard with a 'thud' and for a moment had the breath knocked out of him. "Al… fred… you… _git_," he gasped, rolling over onto his back and still trying to breathe normally again. He felt like he'd just fallen down a fir tree and hit every branch on the way down.

However, Alfred didn't appear until a few seconds after him-for some reason, Alfred actually landed on his feet. "What?" Alfred helped him stand up (slowly but surely, since Arthur was still gasping and having trouble) and, as he leaned on the blue-eyed teen, he replied, "Don't you…" Cough. "…Even know what a teleportation spell looks like on paper?"

"Uh, no? Is that what that was? I thought it was weird that we suddenly ended up here," Alfred said, looking around. They had landed in the middle of a forest, although judging by the nearly rock-hard ground and the nearby cliffs, their actual location was somewhere in the mountains outside of Sorceryville.

"Remind me to teach you basic symbols," commented Arthur, finally recovering and taking a few steps away from the other (since he had been leaning on him before, he would've felt odd staying so close).

"'Kay, 'kay," Alfred said. "So, now that we're here... I have this really awesome plan to find out what was causing the disappearances! I was thinking that since whatever it was seemed to focus on taking sorcerers, that-"

"Hold on," Arthur interrupted. "There's a flaw in your logic. Disappearances do not necessarily equal kidnapping. Despite the fact that there is a high possibility, I'm not aware of any sort of creature in this area that is capable of taking down a sorcerer, let alone several."

"Sorcerers don't get lost," countered Alfred. "Even if they do, they can just cast a spell to get home."

"Alfred, not every sorcerer is able to cast transportation spells," Arthur pointed out. "It's relatively high-level magic, and is more difficult in an area where the land isn't flat. Such as these mountains."

"Well… Say I knew one of the people that's disappeared," Alfred said a little more quietly. "Say I knew that they could do it. What then?"

"Then you would be correct," Arthur replied, looking at Alfred seriously. "If you know something, Alfred, then that would help us solve this." So it wasn't something that the Academy had set up. It was serious.

"According to this," Alfred pointed at the sheet of paper (which, despite everything, Arthur hadn't dropped). "Five people have gone missing in the mountains. It lists names, and I recognized two of them. Both are pureblooded sorcerers, and one of them is like, the most skilled person our age in Sorceryville. He was supposed to enter the Academy this year, too."

"Ah. Wait…" Arthur bit his lip. "If that's the case, then this could be a bit more than we could handle…"

"I'm a hero, so of course I can do it!" Alfred exclaimed. "Of course, I'll need your help… So my plan was that one of us could pretend to be a hiker or something and the other one could hide nearby. When the whatever's-been-kidnapping-people shows up, we can catch it! I'll be the person who pretends to be the hiker, 'cause I can totally beat anything that might be here! You can hide since it's dangerous, but you're my backup in case something happens! Cool, right?"

"That is utterly ridiculous," Arthur said. "It won't-listen to me, you git!"

Alfred had already started dashing off into the woods, shouting, "Just follow me and hide and it'll be fine!" So Arthur followed reluctantly, deciding that he could handle whatever the other was going to do after he'd caught up.

Suddenly, Alfred stopped to let Arthur catch up. "Fine," he pouted. "You don't have to hide. We can just find this thing with my senses, and take it down that way."

"You don't seem to get the point," Arthur said. "I'm not worried about _how_ we can take it down. Rather, _if_ we can actually take it down. We're going on very little information, save for your knowledge of those who disappeared."

"You lived in Sorceryville for like, five years, though. Shouldn't you have known them too?" Alfred looked at him with a confused expression.

_How did he even know it was five years?_ Arthur didn't recall telling him, after all. Perhaps it was that Sorceryville was one of those 'it is small so everyone knows everyone and everything' kind of places. Despite the fact it was actually rather large. Perhaps it was just Alfred. "I didn't go out much," Arthur mumbled, and, not wanting to reveal the reason, he would have left it at that. If…

If the next moment, Alfred hadn't gone and said, "Why didn't you?"

After he got a fit of cursing under his breath through with, Arthur replied, "It… simply didn't happen." Although from the way Alfred was looking at him, he assumed that the blue-eyed teen wasn't about to end it at that. "I had reasons! Don't assume I'm going to…" He then stopped, realizing that probably wasn't fair (or that would be Alfred's excuse, anyway), seeing as the other _had_ gone and told _him_ several things that were most likely more significant. "Er, I mean…"

"How 'bout this," Alfred said. "I tell you something about me, and you tell me something about you. Don't bother pointing out my grammar, either, 'cause I know. I just don't care."

"You should," replied Arthur. "Although, I suppose that would work… _after_ we finish here. We don't have time to be losing focus."

"M'kay. So about my plan-"

"**Humans."**

Arthur looked at Alfred, who looked equally confused. "Where did that come from?" Arthur asked, looking around for the source of the voice.

"I don't know, but maybe it's-"

"**Intruders."**

The voice was deep and cold, like rough stone. It was definitely the voice of a monster… and it was getting closer, whatever it was. "Looks like we're about to find out," Arthur mumbled, narrowing his eyes. "Whether we want to or not."

Now there was a large amount of crashing as trees in the creature's path were struck down by its heavy footsteps. The trees in front of the two young sorcerers soon fell also, and the monster was revealed. It was at least two stories high, with four legs that ended in scaly claws. Its scales gleamed a deep crimson in the sunlight that now filtered in through the broken trees, and upon looking up to face it, Arthur saw that it had two huge, leathery wings on its back. "A… dragon?" he mumbled.

* * *

Ah… this chapter was fun.

One story is about 10-12 feet. And also, since I forgot to put it last chapter…

A cambion generally refers to the offspring of an incubus or succubus and a human of the opposite gender. They're usually cunning and inhumanly beautiful, and usually possess evil tendencies because they're half-demon. They are born without showing signs of life, like a pulse or breathing. However, they usually develop these things by age seven and become almost impossible to tell from humans (except for the inhumanly beautiful part, I guess).

In _The Tempest_ by William Shakespeare, the son of the witch Sycorax (Caliban) is a cambion, and Merlin from Arthurian legend is as well.

I took some creative liberties with the species for this story (you could say the seal was one of them) so you can kill me for that later. (I suppose the fact that Alfred in this story is half-sorcerer instead of half-human counts as well, although the only real difference between the two is that sorcerers can use magic)


	8. Field Test Part 2: Dragons

I had like… five dragonology books that I was rereading earlier. So the monster is a dragon, instead of what it was originally planned to be. Which, looking back, wouldn't have been nearly as fun to write.

* * *

Although the realization that the monster was a dragon was shocking (especially due to the fact no dragons had been recorded to live in that area), it didn't explain the feeling that he got just by _looking _at it. Sure, it was large and majestic and simply _terrifying_, but… The sight of it caused him to freeze on the spot. He was still thinking rationally, but his body wouldn't move at all.

"Arthur, are you okay?" Alfred asked from beside him, as though sensing that something was wrong.

"N-no… I… it…" he could barely gasp out the words as he felt his jaw lock up. Arthur certainly was _not_ okay. His heart was racing and it felt like it was going to burst from his chest at any moment; alongside this he felt his stomach tighten like it was being twisted. He felt himself stumbling involuntarily as his vision blurred and the world began spinning-but it was only him. He knew that.

"Arthur!" Alfred shouted in concern as the shorter teen collapsed. Barely catching Arthur in his arms before the other hit the ground, he glared at the dragon. "You're the one who's been kidnapping people, aren't you, you son of a bitch?"

The dragon pulled its mouth open in what could have been either a snarl or a smirk. **"You don't seem to be affected by it…"** it growled, blinking and looking at Alfred with a single one of its large, yellow eyes. **"…The thing you humans call 'dragonfear'."**

_That's not true._ Although he didn't feel as bad as he imagined Arthur had, he was still shaking. Alfred pulled the unconscious Arthur closer to himself protectively. "Answer my damn question," he replied, inching backwards in hopes of possibly getting somewhere _far away_. Somewhere he could hide Arthur, then come back and kick the dragon's ass.

The dragon made sort of a laughing sound as it replied, **"I have the right to do what I want with the intruders in my territory."**

"Are they alive?" Alfred asked slowly, somewhat afraid of the answer. No, he couldn't think like that… he had to focus…

"**You can find out,"** the dragon said in an amused tone. **"You're about to suffer the same fate."**

Alfred was just about ready to turn and _run like hell_ (the dragonfear was getting to him, it looked like) when he felt Arthur stir in his arms. "Wha…?" the green-eyed teenager blinked and looked up at him.

Suddenly Alfred remembered something and put his hand over Arthur's eyes. "You can't look at it, or you'll pass out again," he explained seriously.

Arthur nodded weakly in response, unable to move around much yet. "The dragon," he managed to say quietly.

Alfred looked at the beast in front of them, who seemed to be waiting for them. **"I am merely being polite. It's common to let your victims have a few last words."**

It was then that Alfred had an idea. Picking Arthur up off of the ground, he shot a glance at the dragon and ran straight towards it. Although the beast flinched in surprise at his actions, it recovered quickly and opened its mouth wide, releasing a breath of yellow-orange flames. Alfred ducked under the flames, being careful to shield Arthur, and dove straight under the dragon's body. He slid out from underneath quickly as well and began to run.

_Dragons can't turn around fast, 'cause of their size. They can't run fast, but they make a hell of a lot of noise doing so,_ he thought, not stopping to glance behind him. Him and Arthur would be pretty screwed if the monster behind them decided to fly, though. He had to get somewhere that had some kind of cover (the nearby trees had been ripped apart by the dragon).

Luckily, he quickly spotted a cave that had a small entrance (which meant the dragon wouldn't be able to run right in) and was able to reach it before the dragon caught him and Arthur. He carried the other teenager as far back into the cave as possible before he reached an area where it was beginning to get difficult to see due to the darkness. The only light in that area came not from the far-away cave entrance, but small cracks in the walls or ceilings. Even then, there weren't many. "Arthur, can you hear me?" he asked, setting the other down on the ground gently and sitting next to him.

"Yes, I can," Arthur replied quietly, attempting to sit up and then flinching from the pain that lingered in his gut and lying back down. "Alfred, I don't think we can defeat that."

"I can," Alfred insisted as he took off his jacket and placed it over Arthur. "Still, I'm not gonna let you get yourself killed. Since you're not part demon, that dragonfear thing'll affect you and you'll die if you try to fight that thing. And you know what? We're trapped in the mountains and there's no way for us to get out without defeating that thing. So stay here until I come back." He then stood up and turned to exit the cave.

"You _idiot_! Don't treat me like I'm defenseless, and don't act like you're immortal just because you're a bloody cambion!" Arthur shouted, although each word brought a twinge of pain to his stomach. "I don't care what you-"

"Arthur, _please_," said Alfred quietly as he looked back at the green-eyed teen who was still on the ground. "I know you're not defenseless, and I know I'm not immortal. Still, you're in no condition to fight against that _or_ transport us out of here."

Arthur blinked, having expected the blue-eyed teenager to give him some sort of obnoxious, stupid response having to do with heroics that wouldn't benefit anything. "Then wait until I recover enough to cast a teleportation spell," he said quietly.

"Arthur," Alfred said. "If you were well enough to do something like that, I'd ask you to cast a different spell for me. I _have_ to beat that dragon, 'cause if I don't, it'll just keep attacking people and it might get bolder and go for the people in the town."

Arthur finally managed to sit up, which caused Alfred's jacket to slide off his front and into his lap. "Which spell?" he asked, wondering what Alfred had in mind.

"I'd ask you to loosen the seal, so I could kill the dragon without anyone else getting hurt," replied Alfred bluntly.

"That's the most idiotic thing you've said to me," Arthur hissed. "I couldn't do something like that. The risk of losing you is… No, what I mean is… You could… Um." He couldn't quite put it into words without making it sound like something he didn't mean. He knew that removing or even loosening that seal could cause Alfred's personality to change completely, possibly ending in… He wasn't going to think about it.

"I get it," Alfred said. "But Arthur, I'd lose myself for you. Interpret that however you want." He then turned again and ran out of the cave to go fight the dragon waiting outside.

Arthur blinked in confusion. _What?_ One, Alfred had referred to _him_ specifically, instead of everyone in the town. Two, Alfred's tone had made that sound almost like… Arthur blushed, shaking his head. He was sure that he'd misheard something. That aside, what was he going to do now? He couldn't stand without sending shots of pain through his muscles (which were still stiff), and every moment he wasted trying to recover was one that Alfred could be getting himself beaten around by the dragon. "I-Idiot," he groaned, standing up with great difficulty and wrapping Alfred's jacket around himself like it would help. "You'd better not die…"

* * *

Alfred wasted no time in confronting the dragon once he was out of the cave. **"So you've returned,"** the dragon commented, looking down at him.

"Hell yeah I returned!" Alfred shouted. "And I'm gonna kick your ass!"

The dragon snorted in amusement, but didn't say anything more. Instead, it swung its mighty, spike-lined tail straight at Alfred. The tail struck him in the side, cutting through his shirt and causing the spikes to dig into the flesh beneath. "Dammit," he breathed, wrapping an arm around the tail. He knew what he could do now, but that didn't change the fact that having _spikes_ embedded in your side just plain sucked.

The dragon twitched its tail in an attempt to throw Alfred off, but he'd planned on that. What he hadn't planned on was that as he clung to the tail, waiting for his opportunity, the spikes scratched back and forth in his side, slicing his t-shirt further and causing a large amount of blood to drip from the growing wound.

Eventually, though, it paid off, and he was able to let go of the thrashing tail to fall onto the dragon's back. The dragon itself whipped its head around to snap at him as he scrambled between the wings, clutching the leathery skin of those wings to stay on its back. He was _not_ about to fall off after all he'd gone through to get there. He was going to kill that son of a bitch, and from his position, he knew just how to do it.

Alfred slid down the back, reaching the base of its neck and grabbing at the soft flesh that attached the neck to the body, yet seemed to be the only part of the dragon that wasn't covered in the scaly crimson armor. He bit his lip and began to mumble the incantation to the spell he intended to use to blow that damn lizard's head off-it didn't matter if he messed up like he always did, as long as the damage got done.

However, before he finished, the dragon proved itself to be more intelligent than that by rolling over onto its back. Alfred was nearly crushed underneath what he assumed was about three tons of scaly dragon, but he managed to roll out from under the beast at the last minute and avoid being killed.

He managed to retreat a couple hundred meters of so, what with the dragon still trying to get up off of its back. _What do I do now… What do I freaking do?_ He groaned, clutching his still-bleeding side as he hid behind a tree.

* * *

"Alfred?" Arthur had managed to work his way out of the cave by then, but what he saw was not what he'd expected or wanted to happen. Instead of finding Alfred actually being able to fight the dragon, what he saw was the other bleeding, against a tree, and looking horrible.

"Arthur… Run away! The dragonfear-" Alfred's shouting was cut off as he doubled over, his knees hitting the ground. "Ugh…" He coughed violently, a large amount of blood leaking out of his mouth as it surged up his throat.

Arthur kneeled down next to him and looked at the wound. It was nasty, to say the least, and had to be treated immediately. Trying to remain calm, he said, "I'm going to cast a spell to heal your side. Then, I am going to close my eyes and you are going to guide me as I cast combat magic." That plan made sense enough to him; if he closed his eyes, he would be unaffected by the dragonfear.

He lifted his hands to press them against Alfred's wound, ignoring the way that the blue-eyed teen flinched as he did so. "It's going to hurt," Arthur warned as he muttered a short incantation that caused his fingertips to glow with a soft blue light. He then carefully ran his lit fingers over the wounds, tracing every detail and closing the skin as he did so. Alfred whimpered quietly and complained, "That stings like a bitch, Arthur."

"I can't help it," Arthur replied, continuing to trace over the now-healing wounds with his fingertips in order to take care of the internal damage; the first part had merely been to close the wounds. "I know it does, though, believe me. This is the spell my grandfather used to heal me whenever I was wounded during my training."

"What the hell kind of training did you go through?" Alfred asked, biting his lip to keep from focusing on the pain of both the wound and the spell that Arthur was using to heal it.

"This and that," replied Arthur. He assumed that the conversation would distract Alfred long enough, so he continued. "It wasn't quite as awful until the last two years or so."

"What happened then?"

"I began learning combat magic. 'What better way is there than to experience it firsthand?' is just about what my grandfather used to say."

"No way. He actually did something like that?"

"I don't resent him for it."

"So he did do it."

"Yes, Alfred, he did," Arthur said as he finished with the spell and the glowing ceased. "Now get up, and help me because I _still_ can't feel my legs from earlier."

Alfred stood up easily with his wound healed, and then pulled Arthur to his feet next to him. "Now," said Arthur as he closed his eyes. "Take my left hand and direct me so I can fight this dragon of yours. Tell me when, and I will react. However, since it seems I really can't open my eyes without becoming a victim of the dragonfear again, I will be…" he really couldn't believe he was saying it. "…Depending on you completely. Understand?"

He felt Alfred move behind him and grab his wrist as instructed, lifting up his hand in front of him. "The dragon's about two hundred feet in front of us, and it's pissed because it just got up off its back," Alfred said quietly behind his ear.

Arthur nodded and prepared a curse; something akin to black lightning began to gather around his index finger on the hand that Alfred was holding out to point at the dragon. "Is it aimed properly?" he asked, since he was still unable to see. However, a large crashing noise as the dragon began to move towards them rendered that question unnecessary. He knew full well where it was now, and was able to release the spell without hesitation.

The dark, midnight-colored lightning shot from his hand and based off of the shriek that followed, it had hit its mark. "Between the eyes," Alfred informed him, confirming it. That was good-dragons were especially sensitive in their eyes.

"**YOU DARE. You humans DARE to attack me?"** the dragon screeched, rearing up onto its hind legs and spreading its wings full span; this caused it to appear just about three times larger than it truly was. However, its enraged screeching quickly turned to a horrified wailing. **"I'm blind! You will die for this!"** It then lunged straight at them, baring its dagger like teeth and curving its claws aggressively.

"It's coming towards us really fast," Alfred commented. "We probably can't avoid it, because it's closing in fast."

That was no problem; Arthur spread his hand and cast a barrier that flew forward rather than remaining stationary as it typically would. This pushed the dragon back, and although the barrier quickly shattered, it managed to knock the beast clear off of its path and onto its side, with one of its wings being shoved into the ground.

Arthur felt Alfred tense for a moment, then relax. "It was sliding towards us pretty fast, even after you cast the barrier. It's stopped and it isn't moving, but it is breathing," he explained.

"**Filthy humans… Coming into my territory and daring to best me in combat,"** it growled, tail twitching on the ground. **"However, as a dragon, I do follow a code of honor and will tell you about those I took."**

"You said they were dead," Alfred said flatly.

"**That was your assumption, human. I merely said you would share the same fate, but at no point did I state that they were dead. In fact, they are all very much alive,"** the dragon rolled over, sending several trees to their untimely doom. It lifted up its injured wing and stretched it out in order to assess the damage. Wincing in pain and refolding the wing, it adjusted itself into a more comfortable sitting position, resting its head on its huge paws. **"I took them for my personal amusement, and the ones that didn't resist were relatively uninjured. However, they are no longer in my possession."**

"You let them go?" Alfred asked hopefully.

"Of course that isn't the case, Alfred, read the situation," Arthur hissed, with his eyes still closed.

"**I'm afraid your friend is correct,"** the dragon said. **"Speaking of which, human, you may open your eyes. The dragonfear will not take effect unless I will it."**

"Say you decide to will it after I open my eyes," countered Arthur. "I won't."

"**Whatever you like, human. I will tell the both of you the fate of the five that I captured, and why I did so,"** the dragon continued. **"Recently I've found myself becoming enraged over the simplest of matters, as you may have noticed when I attacked you. I thank you, actually, for if you had not bested me in combat, I would not have been able to calm myself. I digress, however, as those humans were taken by a creature very similar to myself. I suspect she will be here for you two as well."**

"So you _don't_ know if they're still alive or not?" Alfred asked. "If they were taken from you-"

He wasn't able to finish asking, because at that moment, as predicted by the scarlet dragon, a larger silver dragon flew down to hover above them. Arthur could hear the beating of the wings and feel the gusts of wind that they created, but he still wasn't able to identify what was going on. "Alfred, what's-" he started to ask, but suddenly felt the taller teenager wrap the arm he wasn't using to hold Arthur's hand around Arthur's waist, pulling him behind a tree. "There's a second dragon, and it's bigger than the first one," Alfred explained.

"**I sensed humans,"** the silver dragon growled to the red as it landed next to it.

"**There were some,"** the red dragon replied calmly. **"They defeated me and fled."**

"**You're lying. I smell them."**

Arthur and Alfred both tensed as they listened from their hiding place. It seemed that the red dragon was on their side now, but how quickly would it recover from its defeat and turn on them?

"**It was recent."**

"**I know they're here. If you do not tell me, I'll rip you apart."**

The red dragon considered; although it was true that the dragon's code of honor included respecting those who bested one in combat, there was nothing in it that required him to be ripped limb from limb for the two sorcerers. **"There,"** the red dragon growled reluctantly, flicking his tail towards the place where Alfred and Arthur were hiding.

"Well, we're screwed."

* * *

Dragonfear is basically an ability of dragons in some forms of mythology to paralyze humans who look at them.

Wow, I finished this pretty early in the morning. Huh.

ENTHUSIASM.


	9. Field Test Part 3: Dangerous Ground

The silver dragon darted their way faster than either of them could respond. It moved across the ground almost silently, with its claws barely touching the earth as it used its wings to glide only a couple of feet off of the forest floor. The only noise it made was the occasional knocking over of trees (the ones which the red dragon hadn't already destroyed), which was also the only thing Arthur had to go off of to guess how close it was and how fast it was going. "I can't cast a spell fast enough," mumbled Arthur.

"Got it," Alfred replied, letting go of Arthur's hand. "I've got an idea, so don't worry!" Alfred wrapped his arms around Arthur's waist and began to sidestep; since the silver dragon was flying, he wouldn't be able to run under it like before, so he needed a different way to move. It was a way that should have worked, seeing as the dragon hadn't exactly _seen_ them yet.

Unfortunately, because he had to move like this while guiding Arthur, their pace was slow and by the time the dragon reached the area that they'd been hiding at only moments before, they were barely twenty feet away-more than close enough for one of the dragon's wings to hit them. Hard. Alfred managed to turn at the last minute and take most of the impact, digging his heels into the dirt to keep from falling over as the wing clipped him on the shoulder.

Arthur, eyes still closed, could only feel the gusts of wind that brushed off the dragon's wings as it approached, and then the impact of the wing (although it didn't actually hit him, he felt Alfred stumble from it). Despite this, he could still feel Alfred's arms around himself. "Alfred, what's happening?" he asked.

"I'm going to feel that tomorrow," Alfred groaned in reply, trying to keep on his feet. "Also, we might be in some very deep shit, but you already knew that." At this point, the silver dragon had noticed them and landed onto the ground in front of them.

"**Interesting,"** the dragon commented as it sat there, not yet showing any signs of attacking. **"That there is a human here unaffected by dragonfear, and another able to defeat a dragon with simple magic. I would very much like to invite you back to my lair."** Although the dragon's words seemed innocent enough, the tone and expression were nothing short of threatening-it was like the dragon was saying 'come with me or I'll rip you apart' instead.

"I don't think so," Alfred replied. "That red dragon told us that _you_ took everyone! So just let them go back with us or we'll beat you up too!" The threat sounded weak, and he knew it. Still, he couldn't think of much else to say.

"**You'll find that I am not nearly as weak,"** the silver dragon hissed. **"However, if you come with me, I'm sure we can reach a compromise."**

"Like hell! I'm not going to believe anything you say!" Alfred shouted.

It was then that Arthur decided he definitely wasn't just going to stand there quietly while his best friend argued with a beast that could kill them in less than a heartbeat. He pushed Alfred's arms off of himself so that he could have a little breathing room (for some reason, the other had found it necessary to keep both arms wrapped around Arthur, and too damn tightly at that). Before he could say anything, however, Alfred leaned over and whispered into his ear, "Arthur, I need you to loosen the seal. Right now. I can take it down if you do."

"I can't do that!" Arthur hissed back. "Granted, I have the ability to, but I won't do something so incredibly _dense_."

"But Arthur-"

"**If you're done, human, I'd like to point out that you are in no position to refuse my offer,"** the dragon growled. It hadn't heard the two's short conversation, but it had known that they were talking to each other about _something_.

Alfred's attention snapped back to the beast in front of them. "I don't care!"

The dragon roared, obviously angered by Alfred's obstinate reaction. **"My patience is running short. Now you will agree to come with me, or I will bite your limbs off and drag you with me."**

Alfred smirked, stepped out from behind Arthur (to where he was now in front of the shorter teen, to guard him from whatever the dragon would do), and calmly flipped the dragon off. Of course, the dragon had no idea what the gesture was, so it just assumed by Alfred's expression that it meant 'no'. Being further enraged by that, it roared again and swung its slender tail at the blue-eyed teen.

He didn't move, however, since Arthur was still behind him. Instead, the tail (which, thank god, lacked spikes unlike the red dragon's tail) hit him in the stomach, knocking the breath of out him and pushing him back a couple of inches. It then wrapped around him and lifted him into the air. "Dammit! Let me go!" he yelled.

"Alfred, what's happening?" As much as he wanted to see what was going on, Arthur knew that he couldn't open his eyes. He was aware that Alfred was no longer near him, however, and that was enough to know that something was wrong. That and the fact there was a dragon sitting there.

"Well, I-GAH!" Alfred attempted to answer, but ended up letting out a strangled-sounding yell when the tail tightened around him.

_I should have some time. If I can prepare a spell and then open my eyes… I'll have to aim quickly, and I will only have one chance._ Arthur thought, starting to mumble an incantation. He could feel the warm magic beginning to surround his left hand. _Now!_ He snapped his eyes open and held up his hand to cast the spell. However, several things took him by surprise: Alfred being held up about fifteen feet in the air by the dragon's tail, for one thing; he'd know that something had happened… but actually seeing it was a surprise. Second was the fact that this dragon, although it lacked the spikes of the first, was about twice as large.

Arthur shook his head to clear it. He had to act quickly-he already felt his muscles freezing up. With that thought in his mind, he shot the glowing scarlet flames that had gathered in his palm at the silver dragon. Luckily, it hit that (very surprised) dragon straight in the face, causing it to screech and drop Alfred.

Alfred hit the ground, but that wasn't exactly a concerning thing-Arthur knew he'd had worse, and the wounds from earlier wouldn't open from something like that (he'd put quite enough magical energy into that spell to heal them, thank you very much). In fact, Alfred was already standing up and looking at him like he was crazy for opening his eyes. "Arthur! Close your ey-" the blue-eyed teen wasn't able to finish shouting, since the dragon (who had begun thrashing around after being shot by the fireball) cracked him over the head with its tail, effectively knocking him back to the ground.

"Alfred!" Arthur shouted. That did look like it was worth some concern, especially since the other didn't get up afterwards. He was probably unconscious. Still, Arthur couldn't focus on that for long, because the pains in his stomach and stiff muscles were returning. He'd gone and had his eyes open long enough for the dragonfear to affect him, and it seemed to be hitting him harder than it had the first time-perhaps he still hadn't recovered from that. Either way, his knees quickly failed him and he collapsed onto the ground. _Damn._

"**Going for my face was a cheap shot, human,"** the dragon hissed. **"However, I was not blinded, it seems-you did miss my eyes. It is for this reason I am going to let both of you live, but don't expect me to leave you alone."**

Although his vision was quickly becoming fuzzy, Arthur did notice when something warm-no, hot, almost burning hot-wrapped around him roughly. _That is… its claw…_ he thought hazily before passing out entirely.

* * *

"Guys, stand back-I think he's waking up."

"Like, seriously? I totally wanna see!"

"That might not be wise, Feliks-san."

Arthur opened his eyes slowly, noticing that he was now lying on his back on something that felt like… carpet? "…H-Huh?" he mumbled as he looked around. There were three people kneeling around him-one he recognized as Alfred (much to his relief), but two he didn't know. The first was a male teenager with short, black hair and odd-looking eyes; that is, they were oddly calm and blank looking. The second was a blonde, and for a moment Arthur couldn't distinguish whether it was a boy or a girl. Eventually he settled on boy, since the voices he'd heard while half conscious all seemed to have been male.

"Arthur, this is Kiku and Feliks," Alfred said. "They're the guys I told you about. I mean, the ones who got kidnapped by that damn lizard out there." Oh, so the blonde _was_ male after all…

"Nice to meet you, Arthur-san," the black-haired teen that had been identified as Kiku said.

"Like, totally! I'm like, Feliks, so we should like, totally be BFFs! Once that totally uncool dragon like, lets us out," the girly-looking blonde said.

"Um… Hallo," Arthur said quietly, sitting up. It seemed he actually had been lying on carpet-it was rather nice, actually. He noticed that they were in some sort of cave, but it looked like the dragon had at least tried to make it livable. Perhaps they weren't in as much danger as he'd assumed? "What's… going on?"

"Well, the dragon hit me on the head and probably cracked my skull, then it grabbed both of us and brought us back here," explained Alfred. "I got better pretty fast, but you've been out for a few hours. Right now, we're in the dragon's cave trying to figure out how we're getting out."

"Except that's like, totally impossible," Feliks put in. "We totally tried before, y'know? It like, was totally failtastic."

"Although the dragonfear has been our main obstacle," Kiku commented.

"So if you just did what I asked before, we'd be in business!" Alfred finished, although he seemed to have avoided saying 'if you would loosen the seal like I asked' on purpose. "Since I ain't affected by it."

"My previous answer stands," Arthur replied, frowning. _Was he really going to keep bringing that up?_ "In any case, I believe the report said there were three more people. Where… never mind." He'd noticed a few people in the corner of the room at that point, assuming that they were the others.

"No fair," complained Alfred.

"Life isn't fair," Arthur countered.

"Oh-my-gawd, did you totally just say that?" Feliks snickered. "That's like, so last _century_."

"Nobody asked you, Feliks," Alfred pointed out. "So about getting out of here…"

* * *

They discussed various escape plans for about an hour, with Alfred indirectly bringing up his request for Arthur to weaken that seal several more times (since it wasn't straight out 'Arthur, remove the seal', Arthur guessed that the others in the room didn't know about it) and Arthur refusing each time. Feliks would ask what they were talking about, but neither of them would say. Kiku remained silent for anything that didn't involve the plans (Arthur noted that Kiku seemed like the type of person that he might actually become friends with at some point, since the black-haired teen wasn't loud or obnoxious; then again, he'd thought the opposite about Alfred at first). The discussion, however, ended once the silver dragon that had brought them there returned to the cave.

"**Greetings,"** it began. Although it was a dragon that kidnapped people, and it tended to be upset, this one had no intention of _abusing_ its prisoners-how ridiculous. However, its goal in doing so was now reachable. **"I apologize for the long wait. It took longer than I had expected to gather seven of you."**

_Seven. Dragon. Damn._ Something clicked in the back of Arthur's mind at that point. He hadn't at any point questioned _why_ a dragon would be kidnapping people (which was an odd occurrence, seeing as dragons tended to keep to themselves), but now he realized something. The dragon had gathered seven of them for a reason, and although he had a vague idea of what it was, his education on dragons had taken place almost six years previously, and it had been very… scattered. "We may have a problem," he whispered to Alfred.

"I'll remember that, Captain Obvio-"

"Alfred," Arthur hissed, seriously but quietly. "Dragons normally don't use magic, seeing as they have their physical abilities. However, when they _do_ use it, it is very similar to…" he bit his lip, hoping his next statement was wrong (although he knew it wasn't). "The same black magic used by sorcerers over two thousand years ago, which was abandoned in favor of more… moral sorcery."

"Huh?"

"Were you taught _anything_ about the history of magic?"

"Yeah, but I didn't really pay a lot of attention."

Arthur sighed in frustration, and then glanced at both Kiku and Feliks (he wondered if those two had noticed their conversation, but apparently they were both too focused on the dragon). "Does the phrase _'human sacrifice'_ clear things up?"

* * *

Well, there's proof that the dragon did not just randomly kidnap people BECAUSE I SAID SO.

I read in one of my books that dragons have REALLY HIGH body temperatures, which explains why when it grabbed Arthur, the claw was burning hot.

…I like the phrase 'Thank you, Captain Obvious' a lot. I don't normally use it, though.

I'm not sure if I got Feliks's speech right, either. It's harder than I thought it'd be. Also, I only vaguely remember what Japanese honorifics are normal, so for Kiku's, please forgive anything I may have messed up...


	10. Field Test Part 4: Almost Gone

I rewrote over half this chapter twice because it was too gory (more so than it is now, like by a lot). Then again because I didn't like how I wrote it.

Also, it occurred to me that I didn't put a disclaimer on any of these chapters, so I'm going to say it here:

I don't own Hetalia. If I did, Gilbird would rule the world and everyone would know it.

* * *

"Oh," was the only comment Alfred could offer in response to that. Then he seemed to consider for a moment, and continued with: "_Oh_. We are in _trouble_."

"**I'd like all of you to come with me. I have something very special prepared,"** the dragon continued.

The three in the corner stood up and prepared to follow the beast without hesitation; it was as though they had been broken, or given up all hope of escaping. Kiku's expression was unreadable, but he appeared to be hesitating. Feliks was the only one who actually spoke. "Like, why?"

The dragon didn't appear to be angered by Feliks's question, and it actually seemed to be speaking with a hint of glee in its rough voice. **"Dragons are very superstitious, human, and since there are seven of you now, I've decided to celebrate,"** it replied, although if one knew its true intentions that could be seen as an incredibly sick and twisted statement.

Alfred looked like he was about to yell something that would cause an unnecessary conflict, so Arthur put a hand over the blue-eyed teen's mouth. "Confronting it now won't do anything," Arthur said quietly. "Although it is urgent that we escape, we must have a _plan_."

"I know, I know," Alfred replied after grabbing Arthur's hand and pulling it off of his mouth. "You can't tell me that you don't want to scream insults at that thing, though, because I bet you do."

"I don't," Arthur lied. He wanted nothing more than to do so, but he'd been taught that restraint in such cases was important.

"**Are the two of you done?"** the dragon asked, sounding bored. It looked like Alfred and Arthur were the only ones who hadn't moved closer to it-of course that made sense if they were the only one who knew what the beast was planning.

"Not quite," Arthur replied, although he felt a chill run through his body once he did so. It seemed the dragon was getting impatient after all, and more than willing to use dragonfear to achieve its ends quickly. However, since the feeling wasn't nearly as suffocating as it had been; it was probably just letting off a warning.

"That is freaking _it_," Alfred exclaimed suddenly, standing up. He'd felt the pressure in the room increase, and although it didn't affect him as much, he was downright sick of those stupid lizards using something like that to manipulate them. "Go ahead and beat the crap out of me for this, but going to _kick your scaly ass_!"

For a moment, there was silence in the room as everyone (including the dragon) stared at Alfred in shock (and in the dragon's case, it glared at him in anger). There was a small, confused mumble of, "Alfred-san?" from Kiku, but even that didn't do much to break the heavy veil of silence that hung over the area. Eventually, the dragon growled out a response, **"You will regret that."**

**

* * *

**

In the end, the dragon had to increase the dragonfear effect that it was sending off so much that it paralyzed even Alfred (the others in the room didn't feel it as much, since it seemed that it was directed _very specifically_ at Alfred) and it dragged them off to a deeper area of the cave (more specifically, dragged Alfred, since Arthur opted to walk instead of being knocked unconscious again).

_A plan to escape that isn't reckless,_ Arthur thought, although things were beginning to look like they wouldn't be ending well. Of course, it would probably be better to have help… "Kiku," he said quietly, looking at the black-haired teen who was walking next to him as they followed the dragon.

"Ah, yes Arthur-san?"

"Do you know about this dragon's true intentions?"

"No, I apologize-"

"That's fine." After that, Arthur spent the rest of the time they were walking quietly explaining the situation to Kiku. Kiku didn't speak at all during this time, merely nodding at this or that point. Once Arthur was finished, the black-haired teen commented, "That is concerning, Arthur-san, but there doesn't seem to be a reasonable solution at this time."

"Would you be willing to attack it with me?" Arthur said this very quietly, making sure the dragon couldn't hear. "It has to be in one shot, which I'm not quite sure I'm able to do."

"Ah… That may just work…"

_The reaction time of a dragon this size is rather slow. However, I don't doubt that it is waiting for one of us to make a move, in which case it would react more quickly. It is probably watching me particularly closely, since I defeated the red dragon and Alfred's unconscious… At least, I think he is._ Arthur quickly analyzed the situation, wondering what kind of spell he could cast that would be quick, subtle, and powerful. There wasn't anything either quick or inconspicuous that he could think of, but there was a simple solution. "Kiku, aim for the base of the neck. That's where it will be most sensitive," he instructed quietly. "Make sure it cannot see you preparing the spell."

Kiku merely nodded and hid a hand behind his own back to prepare the spell he planned on casting.

That seemed to be a good idea; dragons couldn't exactly see through people, so Arthur did the same. He began to silently prepare the same black lightning spell that he'd used to blind the red dragon, since that was one of the few things he was able to prepare with nothing but a silent incantation rather than a verbal incantation or a hand motion.

He looked at Kiku and mouthed 'are you prepared?' to which the black-haired teen nodded. Arthur took a deep breath; fully aware that if they failed it was over. If they failed, they'd be hit with dragonfear so bloody fast there wouldn't be a chance of consciousness between then and the time they would reach wherever the dragon performed its black magic. "Now!" he shouted as he whipped his hand out from behind his back and shot the bolt at the dragon's neck. Beside him, he noticed Kiku firing a spell at the same area; it was similar to a white lance.

The dragon screeched and turned on them (dropping Alfred in the process, who it was holding with one claw) as Arthur's spell hit it slightly above the fatal area, causing it to shudder violently before recovering to attack them. Kiku's speared it through the wing and then an upper part of its neck, but despite the deeply red blood that now ran down its front and the torn wing, it only seemed to become angrier (rather than being slowed).

Kiku froze and collapsed almost immediately as the dragonfear took effect, along with Feliks and the three that had been there before (the dragon wasn't bothering to direct it in its fit of blind rage). Arthur stumbled, but for some reason he wasn't even beginning to lose consciousness. Perhaps he was starting to build an immunity after having been attacked with it… No, that didn't seem right. There was no explanation for why he was still standing, fully conscious but unable to move as the beast lunged at him.

For some reason, the cold feeling and stomach pain that accompanied dragonfear was slowly fading as well; this was despite the fact that Arthur was about half a second from being run through by the claws of the most enraged beast he'd ever encountered. He took a sharp breath in dread-it seemed like everything was suddenly slowing down.

Still, the pain he was expecting never came. There was blood that splattered all over the walls and himself, as though someone had stuck a firecracker in a bucket of deep crimson paint and set it off, but it wasn't his or the dragon's. _That's impossible… This isn't happening._ Despite all odds, it looked like… Alfred had gotten between him and the dragon at the last moment. That meant it was Alfred's blood on the walls, everywhere. "A-Alfred! You-!" Arthur couldn't say what he meant to; it was impossible. Although it was what came next that made his blood run cold again only seconds after he'd recovered from the dragonfear.

"I told you earlier… but it wasn't clear, I guess," Alfred said weakly, but his voice seemed to have changed. Arthur couldn't quite tell how, but it was definitely _different_. Then Alfred looked up at him (the claw having hit Alfred through the back), and he realized: that wasn't the only thing that was different.

Those familiar, clear blue eyes had turned a deep crimson color reminiscent of the blood that was still everywhere… and it didn't fit. Even though it matched the blood, it didn't fit. Even though the blue would have clashed with every other damn color in the room-it was _wrong_. "Alfred?" Arthur felt his voice shaking as he was overcome with an emotion that was unfamiliar to him; he felt almost desperate and at the same time had to wonder why it was so important. The latter part was easily answered, however. _That seal has loosened, hasn't it?_

"I'm sorry… I don't know how I did it… but you wouldn't… and… I needed to save you," Alfred said as more blood dripped out of his mouth. "I heard before that once the seal weakened, I could be strong enough… to do anything… but I won't die from something like this, so don't worry…"

"You… why?" Arthur asked. "Why do you keep saying it's for me…?" He was afraid of the answer, in case it didn't match up to what he expected; again he had to wonder why it mattered.

The response didn't come, however, since the dragon chose that moment to rip its claw out of Alfred's back, causing more blood to speckle the walls. Alfred stumbled, but then turned to face the dragon confidently despite his wounds; the way he was standing, if he weren't covered in his own blood, you would have guessed that he wasn't injured at all. That only worried Arthur further however, because if Alfred was going to continue like that, then the blood would only come out faster… or so he assumed.

"Arthur, look away," Alfred said calmly in that deeper-than-should-have-been-natural-for-him voice. "Please."

Suddenly the dragonfear effect was broken and Arthur, able to move for the first time in what seemed like half an hour (but in reality was less than a minute), stumbled backwards and fell onto the ground. However, instead of getting up, he had the feeling that he _really_ didn't want to witness what was about to happen, so he closed his eyes and covered his head with his arms.

He felt a strong gust of wind tearing through the room, which caused him to slide back an inch or two, but still didn't look to see what was happening. Then he heard an almost inhuman voice declare, "This is what you get for hurting everyone, you _lizard_!" Of course, despite the voice in which it was said (that was definitely Alfred's, no matter how much it had changed), Arthur couldn't help but smile as he heard that familiar heroic tone, as well as the ridiculous insult that would seem weak to anyone who didn't know that dragons considered being called lizards worse than anything.

Then there was a loud _**snap**_, and everything went still and silent afterwards. "It's over, you can look." To Arthur's relief, the voice had become normal again, and when he slowly opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that Alfred (who had somehow managed to go from standing in front of the dragon to crouching beside Arthur) had his normal, clear blue eyes back.

_You don't know what you've got until it's almost gone, huh?_

"Wait, your injuries! I need to treat-"

"No need," Alfred said calmly, pulling up his own shirt to reveal that the gaping wound on his stomach from the dragon's nail running through his body had already stopped bleeding. Then letting the shirt fall back down, he pulled Arthur into a tight hug. "I never gave you an answer, so-"

"Let's wait until we get back to the Academy, shall we?" Arthur replied hastily. He knew the answer wouldn't change, but he was going to avoid it for as long as he could. Until he was sure of his own feelings, he didn't know how he'd respond. What if he made the wrong choice?

"Mkay," Alfred mumbled, looking somewhat disappointed. "Well, then we should find a way to get Kiku 'n them out of here."

Looking around, Arthur noticed that Kiku, Feliks, and the others were still unconscious from earlier. "I suppose it's a good thing they didn't see that," commented Arthur. Then he blushed, realizing that Alfred was still hugging him. "Er, Alfred?"

"Yeah?" Alfred, however, seemed to be completely oblivious to that fact (either that, or he didn't care).

"We ought to take care of the others."

"Oh, right," with that, Alfred let go of him and helped him to stand up. "So… How are we gonna do this? I can't carry five people, and you collapsed… like, twice? Three times? You don't need the stress that comes with using transportation magic, I think."

"Most likely," Arthur replied. "For now, it would be good to wait until they regain consciousness… by the way, what did you do to the dragon?" He'd noticed the silver beast lying on the ground, limp, and had assumed it was dead, but since it showed no sign of wounds, he couldn't help but wonder how.

"Oh, um," Alfred sort of shuffled and looked at the ground. "Well, I broke its neck. In half or something."

"Oh."

* * *

It was only a few minutes before the others began to awaken, but by then Alfred had moved them into the same area (they had collapsed in various places near the dragon), well away from the dragon's corpse. "Like, what happened?" Feliks asked sleepily.

"We kicked the dragon's ass, that's what happened!" Alfred exclaimed, and then flinched. It looked like the wounds in his back and stomach (which were still very much visible through his shredded t-shirt) still hurt, even if they weren't bleeding any more.

"That's… incredible, Alfred-san," commented Kiku quietly.

"Thanks Kiku! So anyway, I was thinking that once everyone could walk, we could start heading back to town," Alfred said.

"Which would take approximately three hours, if we're walking," Arthur said once he'd figured that bit out. "That is assuming everyone is capable of walking through rough terrain at a steady pace, which I doubt."

A couple of the other people nodded, while Feliks shouted, "We should like, totally send a messenger! Like, a bird."

"Or a spell that imitates a messenger bird," Kiku added. "I shall take care of immediately." He waved his hand slightly and in a puff of smoke conjured a small slip of paper and a pen. Then he scribbled a message on said paper, folding it until it resembled a bird and flew off to deliver the message.

"It never occurred to me before, but how long have we been here?"Arthur mumbled as he watched the paper bird speed out of sight.

"…Guess we'll find out when we get out," Alfred replied after pretty much everyone else in the room had admitted to not knowing.

* * *

I finished this and started the next chapter while listening to Sugarland's cover of Come On Get Higher. I say started the next chapter because this chapter was originally about five hundred words longer, then I cut the last part out to make the beginning of the next chapter 'cause I felt it fit better.


	11. This Feels Like Filler but Isn't

Someone pointed out that the first few chapters are pretty similar to Halloweentown, and although I didn't do that on purpose, I can't deny that I was aware of that series (and have watched it many times, although it was when I was younger).

Sorry! xD

Also, you know how when you repeat a word several times it seems to lose its meaning…? I kept saying the word 'whilst' in my head and eventually began to wonder why I'd even considered using it in the first place. Hm.

* * *

They only had to wait about twenty minutes for a sign that the paper bird had accomplished its mission; three adults who Arthur recognized as administrative staff from the Academy (not that he'd actually seen any of them around, but each of them were wearing the familiar maroon jacket) arrived in the cave they had been in and used a transportation spell to carry all of them back to the Academy without question (this made several people in the group wonder exactly how specific Kiku's note had been).

Upon their arrival on campus, Alfred, Arthur, and Kiku were taken to the school clinic whereas Feliks and the other three were taken to the hospital in town (when asked, Feliks replied something along the lines of, "I was like, totally supposed to go to a mortal school, y'know?"). Arthur and Kiku were looked over, told to get some rest, and discharged. Alfred, who was still covered in injuries, tried to leave without anyone noticing, but failed.

"I'm okay, I swear!" Alfred shouted as about five members of the Academy's staff (not just staff members from the clinic, either) attempted to drag him back into the clinic.

"Mr. Jones, you have numerous wounds on your back and stomach," a nurse from the clinic said as she approached (bringing the count of staff members trying to restrain Alfred to six, although she wasn't trying to drag him back into the clinic and hold him down like the others were). "It is a miracle you're still alive. Please stay and let the clinic staff treat your injuries."

"It'll get better on its own!" protested Alfred.

"Alfred, do as they say," Arthur said. He'd been watching the entire scene unfold despite the fact he'd been given permission to leave. "If it's magic, then it won't take but a moment."

"Mr. Kirkland, _you_ should get to bed," the nurse commented, looking back at Arthur. "If I recall correctly, you've had an unhealthy amount of exposure to dragonfear. The reasonable thing to do _would_ be to keep you overnight, but you seemed like a reasonable person who could actually _listen_."

"I've been discharged," Arthur pointed out, since, despite the fact he certainly didn't want to stay in the clinic overnight, he also didn't want to leave without making sure Alfred was healing properly.

"True, but first of all, it is within our power to admit you again," the nurse retaliated. "Second of all, it is currently three in the morning and therefore past curfew. Since you are clearly supposed to be in your room, you have two options: stay the night in the clinic, or go to your room this instant."

"Hey! What are you-ouch! Seriously, what… did you… just… ugh…"

Although he had been weighing the options, Arthur's train of thought was interrupted by that fit Alfred was having as another nurse came in and gave him (Alfred, that is) some sort of injection. "Mr. Jones, if you had cooperated in the first place, we wouldn't have had to sedate you," that nurse sighed.

"I'll stay," Arthur said quickly. He wasn't about to leave a sedated Alfred alone in the clinic at night (god only knew what Ivan would do, since he'd already attacked them once and then there was his psychotic sister).

The nurse nodded and replied, "We'll have someone bring down fresh clothing for you." She then went to assist the other staff in setting an incredibly zoned out-looking Alfred into one of the clinic's beds.

* * *

It wasn't long before everything was settled and the lights in the clinic were turned off. Although he'd chosen to stay (granted there were staff members outside, but somehow that didn't make him feel much better about it), and it was three in the morning meaning he was definitely tired, Arthur found himself lying on the clinic bed (which was next to the one Alfred was using, and Alfred appeared to be unconscious; whether it was from the sedatives or what, Arthur couldn't tell) staring at the ceiling.

_I'd be an idiot not to worry about what happened today._ He thought. _From what I know, if that seal is weak enough for Alfred to loosen by himself, then it could begin happening more frequently. This includes times he may not want it to. Since it has been loosened already, it would be weaker for that, wouldn't it? I do feel like it is… at least partially my fault, so I ought to do something. However, I don't think I'm capable of doing something like restoring it by myself, and in addition to that my body is still recovering from that blasted 'field exam' of theirs._

"I'll worry about it in the morning," he mumbled, rolling onto his side (he knew that it was already the morning, but he'd be damned if he was thinking about this at three in the bloody morning when the last time he'd slept had been before noon the previous day) and closing his eyes.

* * *

Arthur woke up around noon again (his thoughts being something along the lines of: _Bloody hell, my internal clock is going to be so far off by the time classes start that I'll never be able to wake up happily again_), this time to the sound of one of the clinic's staff members shouting. He looked around to see if Alfred was causing another uproar, but soon decided that was impossible (since, amazingly, Alfred appeared to still be asleep); this was confusing until he realized that the voices were outside of the room's door.

"Sir, unless you have a medical reason for coming, I can't let you in!" the nurse's voice said.

"I'm sure you can make an exception, da?"

Arthur froze as he recognized the other voice outside the door. Come to think of it, what had Ivan been doing the entire fifteen hours or so they'd been gone? Had he found someone who knew what that symbol meant? He climbed out of the bed, deciding it would be better to face Ivan now than later, when there weren't adults around.

"Arthur, are you awake?" Alfred mumbled from under the sheets, having heard Arthur getting out of bed.

"Yes, but I assumed you weren't."

"Nope, the stuff they put me on wore off really quickly," replied Alfred. "But then I tried to get out of this place before they let me go, so they kind of… tied me to the bed. Can you help me up? I've been stuck here for hours."

"You've got to be kidding," Arthur said, although upon pulling back the sheets, he found that to be true. "Alfred, what the hell did you _do_?"

"Okay, so maybe I didn't just try once. I tried like eight times, and actually got halfway back to the dorms on my fifth try-"

"That's ridiculous," Arthur commented, flicking his wrist, which caused the ropes to pretty much fly off.

"I know, right? I mean, if I can run away eight times, I'm probably healed enough to be let out of-"

"I meant the fact that you tried _eight times_, Alfred."

At that moment, the door opened and the lights flickered on as Ivan pushed past the nurse and hit the light switch. "It seems you were mistaken, da. They weren't exactly asleep," he commented to the nurse, who nodded and left. After that, Ivan stepped all the way into the room and shut the door behind him. "I believe we have some things to discuss, da?"

"I don't think we do," Alfred said simply.

Ivan merely smirked and replied, "Even if I know what you are?"

"You're bluffing," said Alfred, eyes wide.

"You are a cambion, da?"

Alfred and Arthur both froze, looking at each other with shock. Arthur, recovering first, glanced at Ivan and hissed, "How in hell did you find out?"

"You already found the camera, I believe. I'd like it back as well."

"You know what?" Alfred said suddenly, walking up to Ivan and looking him square in the eyes (despite the height difference, which didn't seem all too significant at the moment). "Tell everyone. I don't care. It'll just show what a _complete, heartless, bastard_ you are, and everyone'll turn against you."

"Or, everyone will turn against _you_ because they won't think that far into it, da? Which seems more likely?"

Alfred pushed past Ivan and ran into the hallway, shouting something to the supervising nurse that was along the lines of, "I'm leaving!" Within a few moments, he was gone.

_Great, Alfred. Leave me in a room with Ivan. Git._ Arthur thought. "What do you stand to gain by telling everyone?" he asked quietly, glaring at Ivan.

"Perhaps you ought to consider what I have to lose instead, da?" Ivan replied, turning to leave.

It took Arthur a moment to consider what that meant, and by the time he'd processed it enough to be confused about it (very, very confused), Ivan had walked off. _Something he has to lose, huh…_ He shook his head. _In any case, I need to find Alfred and take care of that other problem. The seal being weakened._

_

* * *

_

It didn't take long to find Alfred; he was in the lobby area, talking (not at all quietly) to Matthew and several others.

"I mean, seriously! That son of a-" he heard Alfred shouting, before he grabbed the blue-eyed teen's arm. "What, Artie?" Strangely enough, when addressing Arthur, Alfred's tone had quieted and become calm almost immediately.

"We need to talk, about what happened yesterday… er, I suppose it was this morning," Arthur replied.

"Um, Artie," said Alfred as he shot a glance at Matthew. "This isn't the pla-"

"What exactly happened?" Matthew asked, looking at Alfred. "Obviously, because you were back late, something did… but all you did just now was run at me and start screaming about what Ivan had done."

"I know," Gilbert snickered, causing all three blondes to look at him like 'what the heck are you talking about?' "It's so obvious-'last night', 'this morning'… You guys are-"

"Gilbert!" Matthew shouted (although considering his quiet voice, it didn't do much), covering the albino's mouth and blushing after realizing what exactly he was about to say. "T-They're not…"

"What are you talking about?" Arthur demanded, although he was momentarily distracted by Alfred tapping on his shoulder. When he looked, he noticed that the blue-eyed teen was holding up two crossed fingers, and suddenly understood. "W-What? That's ridiculous, I mean-of course we're not!" He looked away and covered his face with his hands to hide the fact that he had begun blushing madly upon his understanding.

"See? He's denying it, but he's all red! That's proof that they're doing it!" Gilbert exclaimed as he pushed Matthew's hand aside. "That, and the fact that the awesome me is never wrong. Right, Al?"

"We're not doing it," Alfred confirmed, much to the albino's disappointment.

"A-Anyway," Arthur broke in, attempting to regain his composure. "Alfred, I do need to talk to you… Matthew is welcome to join, since this concerns him as well."

"Okay," Matthew said. "Uh, Gil, I'll talk to you later."

"Before that, Al, can you be outta the room tonight, too? I don't see why we can't go for a third-"

Matthew promptly dragged Arthur and Alfred out of the lobby before Gilbert finished.

* * *

They ended up in Arthur's room once again, sitting on the bed. The only difference between this time and the others was that now, Matthew was with them. "Okay, so what happened?" Matthew asked once Arthur had shut the door.

"We were delayed in returning due to being attacked by a dragon," Arthur began.

"Dragons," Alfred corrected him.

"Yes, but in any case… It was a rather serious situation. The first dragon was defeated with a simple tactic, but the second took us prisoner," Arthur explained. "The dragonfear was overwhelming, to say the least… and Alfred was injured whilst saving my life."

"T-That explains the injuries, but… How did you…?" Matthew said quietly, eyes wide as he listened to Arthur's story.

"_That_ is where we enter the concerning area," Arthur replied. "Alfred, roll up your sleeves."

Alfred was obviously no longer wearing the ripped-to-shreds t-shirt that he'd returned to the Academy in; the clinic staff had changed him into a white, long-sleeved shirt with buttons. He shrugged, not seeing why it was important, and rolled up both of his sleeves.

Arthur gasped and grabbed his arm to get a closer look at the seal that was placed there. "It's worse than I thought," he mumbled. The symbol was no longer the deep black that it had been when Alfred had first revealed it to him; now it was more of a faded gray, pale against Alfred's tan skin.

"T-That… Why was it loosened?" Matthew nearly shrieked in shock.

"Alfred did it himself to kill the second dragon," said Arthur. "Which brings me to the solution. Alfred, I would recommend having it restored immediately. Who originally performed the spell that created it?"

"If he has to do it, then we're screwed," Alfred replied simply as he glanced down at the bed. When Arthur looked at him in confusion, he explained, "It was my dad."

"Er, no, it doesn't have to be him," Arthur said quickly. "Still, I can think of only two others in Sorceryville that could accomplish the restoration. Although, the one who originally cast the seal is the ideal one to restore it. To restore another's seal is a difficult task, and given that most sorcerers are no longer educated in that field, we have very few options."

"Who are the two that can do it?" Matthew asked quietly. Alfred nodded, as he had been wondering that as well.

Arthur bit his lip. "Both are uncertain, mind. I have no doubt that the first can accomplish it easily, but he most likely will refuse to do so. The second should, based on education and amount of magical power, be able to, but… I don't…"

"Who?" Alfred asked.

"The first is a man by the name of Edward Crowley; he lives in town and is my grandfather. The second is me."

* * *

I figured I should post this once I finished, although the next one –might- be a little late, seeing as I have to finish some things.


	12. Visit

**I'm gonna start putting these things in bold, might make it easier to read. Anyway, this chapter ended up being something I almost rewrote over my insecurity about introducing yet another character that is related to this story itself and not Hetalia. I didn't, though, so here it is.**

**Also, if you think about it… I made a small mistake regarding the ages of some of the characters… Like this. In this story, Alfred and Arthur are meant to be 18, which was the age I put at minimum for entering the Academy. But then I went and made Mattie 17, even though he's enrolled… So let's just say he faked his age.**

**Also, this is of little importance but I noticed… In Texas the legal age for sexual consent is 17. If Gil and Mattie have been doing it for a year, it would've been illegal in Texas (especially if Gil were older, which he is). That doesn't apply in Sorceryville or anything, but I just felt like sharing.**

* * *

After Alfred had stopped freaking out about that (pushing Matthew out of the room as well for some reason), Arthur decided to continue, "However, since I've never attempted a normal sealing, let alone restoration, we should probably at least… ask my grandfather… I suppose."

"Arthur, I bet you could do it," Alfred commented enthusiastically.

Arthur sighed, pressing his palm to his face. There was a problem with that, wasn't there? Even if Alfred believed in him… "Alfred, do you have _any_ idea what would happen if I tried and failed?" It would only make things twice as bad if he did attempt and was forced to deal with the consequences.

"I think we've established that I don't know crap about these things," replied Alfred.

"Alfred, we're going to have a talk about the numerous gaps in your education later," Arthur stated. "However, that aside… If I were to fail, numerous things could happen as a result. In the best situation, the seal would be completely removed and I would lose the majority of my magical power."

"I'd hate to hear what the worst situation is."

"The worst situation," Arthur added. "Is that we both die incredibly violent deaths as a result of magical rebound."

Alfred paused, biting his lip. "…Maybe we _should _ask your grandpa."

"I will make the arrangements, then," Arthur said as he stood up and walked towards the door. "Alfred, normally I wouldn't want to do this while you're still injured, but based off how much the seal has faded, we don't have much time."

"Mhm."

"Er, you stay here," said Arthur as he left the room to go get permission from the administrative offices to leave the campus. _I can't believe this… How can he be so calm about this?_ The green-eyed teen thought as he walked down the stairs. He himself was terrified; it wasn't exactly because he knew what would happen if the seal broke, but because he _didn't_ know what would happen. It could range from almost nothing to…

He shuddered, remembering the red eyes and the cold voice of Alfred's previous transformation. No matter how much he told himself that it was simply a change in appearance, that image still haunted him. _That aside, I'm sure that wasn't a full transformation…_

_

* * *

_

It was relatively simple to obtain permission to leave the campus and go into town; the staff in the offices didn't even question why. Arthur quickly sent a message to his grandfather via owl to notify him in advance of their arrival (although he doubted that Edward would actually read it, since he was the kind of person who'd take the note, abandon it on the floor somewhere, and send the owl back) and went back upstairs to fetch Alfred.

* * *

In another place altogether, a place separate from either the mortal world or the magical world, there was a meeting taking place. Of course, once Ivan had told Sophia about Alfred's true heritage, how could she go without investigating further? This place wasn't know to anyone other than those who needed to know; Sophia herself wasn't supposed to have found it either. Now that she was here, however, she knew where to go.

The world was one large building with walls that were lined with bars; its appearance was very similar to a dungeon and so was its purpose. Whoever had created it had also taken precautions to keep everything within the cells _in_, despite the lack of guards or precautions against people coming in from the outside. Sophia finally approached the section that she had been searching for in that seemingly endless hallway; she stopped in front of the bars and looked inside.

Its inhabitant was a heavily chained man covered in a black velvet cloak, which was wrapped tightly around his shoulders. His hair was black as well, and although it looked dull, it was completely straight and reached the floor. On the sides of his head were two long, curving horns. "What is a sorcerer doing here?" he growled in a raspy, dry voice as he looked up at Sophia, the hair in his face falling aside slightly to reveal one of his glistening red eyes.

"I have a proposition for you," Sophia replied as she brushed her fingertips against the bars, an action which caused them to melt away into the air. "I will free you, as long as you do as I say for the next seven days. I am well aware of the contracts your kind will form, and should you decide to cheat me I will ensure your death."

The man shifted slightly, causing the chains around him to rattle on the stone floor. "After that I will be free?" he asked warily.

"Yes."

"What is your request? I will decide on my own whether or not I feel like doing it," the man replied, although his voice was somewhat desperate, as though he would do almost anything to get out of that place.

"I request that you eliminate a certain 'knight'," Sophia smiled. "I have it from a reliable source that you can do it easily, and only you."

"A knight in this day and age?" the man chuckled, rattling the chains further. "Even in my day, those were certainly no great deal. What makes me the only one?"

Sophia paused; she had been using a nice metaphor, but the one kneeling before her seemed to have misunderstood. "He isn't a knight clad in armor as you know it, but moves irregularly like a chess piece instead," she explained. "You are the only one because of _who_ he is, of _what_ he is. He slayed a great silver dragon single handedly, I'll have you know." She then took a photograph out of a pocket on the inside of her jacket and tossed it down in front of the man.

"…That is… I see why you came here," the man said, glancing at the photo on the ground. "…I accept."

* * *

When Arthur had decided to go into town with Alfred, he hadn't exactly imagined that they'd be walking along the forest path instead of taking the scarecrow carriage. However, they were, because Alfred had gone off on some rant about how the scarecrow only moved because it was possessed by a ghost or something and it creeped him out or something along those lines. Arthur _had_ protested about that ridiculous comment, although Alfred's next comment of, "I don't care if I have to _carry_ you, we're not taking that thing!" made him decide to walk.

It took a bit longer than he would have liked, but they finally made it to Edward's mansion with some light left in the day, at least. "You nervous?" Alfred asked as they approached it, since the shorter teen next to him was visibly shaken simply at the sight of the metal gate in front of them.

Arthur shook his head and replied, "Just recalling a few things, is all."

"Even if he says no, I'll bug him until he says yes," Alfred commented, grinning.

"I have no doubt," Arthur sighed, smiling slightly as he walked through the open gate and up to the door. He rang the doorbell confidently, although his hands were twitching as the deep tone played out.

"Yes? Oh, Arthur, it's you," Edward observed as he opened the door. "I was under the impression I wouldn't be seeing you anymore once you entered that Academy of yours, since you decided to stay in the dorms and all. Still, come in."

Ignoring the cold tone and obvious lack of a greeting, Arthur replied calmly, "Hello, grandfather. I originally hadn't planned on this visit, but I did send an owl…"

"Downright annoying birds, owls," commented Edward. "I don't read those notes, since it's almost always advertisements for some shop in town that I've never gone to and would never have any need to go to. Just the other day I got one for some place that sells _bat ears_, and don't get me wrong, those are a wonderful potion ingredient, but a whole shop for them is just… Oh, right, what was the reason for your visit?"

"My friend Alfred has a rather large problem," Arthur started, gesturing to the area a few feet behind him where the blue-eyed teen was standing. Alfred waved, but didn't say anything. "It involves the restoration of a seal that cannot be performed by the one who originally cast it." It occurred to him that asking for Edward's help would also mean revealing Alfred's secret to another person, but he'd assumed that since Alfred hadn't objected to seeking help, it was all right… unless Alfred hadn't thought of that either.

"Arthur, I believe I educated you well enough for you to do that yourself," Edward responded. "If that is the only reason you came here, then it was a wasted trip…" At first, it looked as though he was finished speaking and was going to close the door, but then he paused. "…Scratch that, come to think of it, you didn't tell your parents that you were staying at that school instead of here. They sent something for you, so come inside and get it."

The part about whatever his parents had sent was somewhat interesting (Arthur had assumed that he'd brought everything he would need), but it wasn't about to distract him. "I'd prefer it if the matter I brought up were resolved," Arthur commented.

"It _is_ resolved," Edward replied with an irritated tone. "I refused. You are capable of performing such a task yourself."

Arthur wasn't about to give up, and it looked like Alfred had finally decided to step in as well as the blue-eyed teen walked up to stand next to Arthur. "If Artie thought he could do it by himself, he wouldn't have-"

Slapping a hand over Alfred's mouth to keep him from saying something that would most likely destroy the chance of Edward helping them rather than increasing it, Arthur said calmly, "Please reconsider." Although once his grandfather shot him a look he recognized as 'this is the last time I'll refuse before I blast you off my bloody doorstep', he decided to step it up and pulled up Alfred's sleeve to show the mark to Edward.

Well, _that_ certainly worked. After the old man jumped about a foot (not literally, but he did start in shock), he hissed, "Come inside, right now." There was an air of seriousness in his tone, so the two teenagers didn't question and stepped into the mansion rather quickly, allowing Edward to shut the door behind him. "Now, just because I've changed my mind doesn't mean… in any case, that is one large problem."

"Er, yes," Arthur said, although he hadn't expected such a sudden reaction.

"I won't ask why or how, but I will tell you something that you may not know," Edward continued, pulling several books off of nearby shelves. "That seal might be very faded, but the problem doesn't start there. By the looks of things, it was improperly cast in the first place. Which makes things _much_ simpler; if a seal is incorrect from the start, then it is merely a matter of fixing it. That brings me to the matter of actually performing the spell to fix it… Come with me." Without giving either teenager a chance to think about what he had just said, he grabbed both of them by the wrists and began to drag them down a hallway.

* * *

They ended up in a large room lit only by a large chandelier that hung from the ceiling on a thick chain; the walls and floor were made of stone, although the floor was mostly covered by a large, dusty sheet that must have been white at some point but was now a dirty brown color, with tinges of red here and there. Along one wall were several shelves and wardrobes, which Edward strode up to first as he took several items off of the shelves and flung open one of the wardrobes. He yanked a couple of coat like things out and, tossing one to Arthur, he said, "Arthur, I do hope you came prepared because this is something we are going to do immediately."

The green-eyed teen nodded and unfolded the coat. "Is this really necessary?" he asked as he looked at it.

"We are going to do this in a traditional manner or not at all," the old man snapped as he put on the other coat, which was more like a hooded robe than anything. "I don't care whether or not it is necessary, but this is a part of your heritage so you will put that on and be bloody grateful for the chance."

"I was under the impression that you had agreed to perform the spell…" Arthur replied quietly, still eyeing the navy blue robe in his own hands.

"I agreed to help, not do everything for you," his grandfather corrected him. "You will be performing the spell, while I will set it up beforehand and step in if I see fit, which I won't have to."

"What do I do?" Alfred put in.

Edward pulled the sheet off the floor, revealing a complicated array in dark black, which was very noticeable against the light gray stone of the ground. "This is a multi-purpose array I invented myself in the old days, which was around the time I still hung around with that group of elves who always managed to set my sorcery robes on fire… I've used it many times. Oh, right, you." He'd remembered Alfred's question at that point, apparently. "Take off your shirt so we can access the original seal, and then stand there." Edward pointed to an area in the center of the array.

Alfred shrugged and did so, carelessly tossing his shirt in the corner of the room and then standing in the designated spot. "Hm… Next is…" Edward mumbled, trying to remember what exactly was supposed to be done. "Right. Arthur, I take it you know how to perform this? I taught you firsthand when you sealed that cursed necklace, although this is a bit more complicated."

"The incantation is specific, isn't it?" Arthur asked, finally putting his own robe on over his clothing. "I'm afraid I haven't memorized it."

"I will take care of that as well, in fact, I'm making this incredibly easy for you," replied Edward. "All you have to do is focus and provide the magical energy."

Arthur stepped to the border of the array and held his hands out, palms down, in front of himself. Although he was still nervous about that, he reassured himself that not only was Edward there to ensure nothing went wrong, he was most likely capable of it… So nothing bad could result. Right?

…_Right._ He reassured himself as the array began to glow in a mint green shade; this started the spell.

* * *

**Why did I end here? Because.**

**PS. If you're the first one to guess who that guy with the horns was and why Sophia wants him to kill Alfred (well, we knew why she wants Alfred dead, but if you can guess why THAT GUY can do it) then... well, you just figured out another part of the plot that I'll reveal clearly later.**


	13. Set in the Present

**I watched Jeepers Creepers 2 today. Scratch that, I'm watching it as I write this, and all I have to say is LOOK BEHIND YOURSELVES YOU IDIOTS.**

**…This is why I don't take the bus to school. Ever.**

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* * *

**

If anything, Arthur felt more than saw what was going on at that point; the magical power was flowing from his palms through the array in a sensation very similar to the one that occurs when one of your limbs falls asleep, and it tingles in a not-very-good but not horrible way when you shake it to wake it up. That part was normal, so he relaxed slightly. While he did need to remain focused, there was no need for him to be tense for the duration of the spell (although he had been earlier, from apprehension about performing the spell itself).

The glowing array on the floor began to spit out small bolts of greenish lightning, which caused Arthur to tense again more from surprise than anything. He knew that it was _meant_ to do that, but it had started at a time when he was barely relaxed anyway. Those shots of electricity foreshadowed the next stage of the ceremony, which was more of a luxury than anything that existed in order to prepare the caster for the difficult part.

The lightning shot across the room dangerously close to Arthur as the green progressed into a dark, purple color and a black fog began gathering around the area, covering the room and reducing visibility to close to none. Arthur braced himself for the next part, because it was a given with a spell of that type. With a sealing, whatever the opposing force was (the thing being sealed) was likely to be released in a burst of magical energy, or mana, at one moment or another.

Alfred probably wasn't even aware of what was happening; it was the energy of his demon half that was going to be fighting back. Arthur never quite understood how raw mana worked on its own, but what he did know was that the kind that demons possessed fought against being sealed away much more violently than the stuff cursed items did. Which meant that he was probably going to be beaten down by the energy in a matter of seconds, considering that he'd performed a sealing on a cursed necklace during his training and had sustained some injuries.

It began with a noticeable pressure, as if the smoke or whatever it was that had gathered were trying to smother him, but Arthur continued to breathe calmly as he reassured himself that nothing was going wrong at that point; that and the fact that if he lost control now rebound would most likely occur kept him steadily focused on the task at hand.

Then the lightning shot by again, which, in the peaceful atmosphere of the cloudy void, was a large shock. The momentary lapse in Arthur's concentration that it caused was taken advantage of by the demonic energy that hovered in the air, and something he couldn't see struck him in the stomach and then in the face. He stumbled since he was still focusing on the spell rather than staying on his feet, and fell to his knees. Arthur's hands hit the floor in front of him as the pressure closed in, becoming almost unbearable…

At which point it simply stopped. The lightning, the black smoke, all of it simply froze or faded away. _Is it finished…?_ Arthur wondered to himself as he looked around the room. The fog was still there, but for the most part had vanished. No lightning, black, purple, green or otherwise shot from the array on the floor. Finally, he noticed that the array was no longer glowing green, but instead had faded somewhat into the floor. It was over. However, that was no indication of the results, and before Arthur could look to check if Alfred was all right or not, his vision suddenly flashed white and he fell to the floor completely, clutching his head.

For just a moment, he felt like he could see something other than the fuzzy white in front of his eyes. It was impossible for him to process what exactly it was, and when he tried, he found that his head felt like it was splitting apart. There was a flash of red, and then a short image that formed of a wavy-haired blonde sitting next to a bleeding… corpse? In an instant, that image was gone, Arthur's vision returned, and he was finally able to breathe normally.

"Arthur, you okay?" was the first thing he heard after he returned from his seizure-like state, and when he rolled over onto his back (as he had been lying on his side before) he noticed that Alfred was kneeling next to him with a concerned expression on his face (and his shirt back on, which made Arthur wonder exactly how long he'd been out of it).

"Head hurts," Arthur replied as he sat up with Alfred's help. "…Did it work?"

"I can't tell?"

Arthur took Alfred's arm-rolling up the sleeve-and glanced at the seal, which was thankfully a dark black color again, although it looked slightly different from the time he'd first looked at it. He assumed it was simply part of the way he performed the spell (or the fact that his grandfather had already pointed out that the seal was done incorrectly the first time).

Now that his worries about the sealing were dismissed, he had a moment to think about what had just happened to him. It could have been a vision, which most sorcerers were prone to at some point in their lives (and some specialized in doing such as fortune tellers), but Arthur was unable to tell what exactly it had been of and when it would, or had, taken place. All he could find upon trying to remember it was that it was _bad_.

"Was that really so difficult?" Edward put in as he approached the two. "There's a reason I made you do the sealing, Arthur. I won't be here forever, you know, so I want to make sure you've got these things down."

"I understand," said Arthur. Alfred stood up first and then pulled him up onto his feet, although his (Arthur's) knees were still shaking. Slipping the sorcery robe off and folding it carefully, he added, "Earlier you mentioned that my parents sent something?"

"Right, that," Edward took the folded robe and put both it and the one he'd been wearing before back in the wardrobe that they'd come from. "It's in the den. Which reminds me, were you planning on staying for the night? It's become rather late."

Arthur wasn't going to question _how_ his grandfather knew the time without a window or clock in sight, but followed him out of the room (with Alfred's help, since the shorter teen was still having trouble walking) into the living room where Edward picked up a box and handed it to him. Arthur noticed immediately that it was, above all things, _heavy_, despite the quite average size. "What is this?" he asked.

"I don't open other people's mail anymore," his grandfather replied. "Not after the incident with that one sorcerer that completely lost it, turned into a weird snake, and… er, never mind. So, about the two of you staying? I know which owl you used, Arthur, and it arrived roughly three hours before you did, so if you take that long to walk, you'd best head back in the morning. Go ahead and use your old room, 'night." Without giving Arthur a chance to reply, the old man walked out of the room.

"…Alfred, I suppose that means we'll be sleeping in the same room, since he didn't mention you," Arthur said after a long pause. …_In the same bed._ He added to himself, blushing as he remembered that particular aspect (there being only one bed) of the room he'd used during his training.

"Huh? 'Kay," Alfred replied. He looked like he'd been staring off into space or something before then.

* * *

Due to the fact they hadn't brought a change of clothes for the night (since the original plan wasn't to stay), there was a small moment of awkwardness for Arthur when he was attempting to decide what clothes he was going to keep on to sleep in. Alfred appeared not to care and was already lying on the bed in his shirt and boxers (having placed his glasses on the bedside table). Eventually the green-eyed teenager decided that if Alfred didn't care, he could go ahead and skip it as well; they had slept in the same room before, so why should being in the same bed be that different?

Still, Arthur felt a bit odd climbing under the bed sheets with the other (especially when both of them were in nothing but shirts and underwear)… for some reason. _It shouldn't matter,_ he told himself, pulling one of the pillows closer to his head so he could sleep on it.

"Hey, Arthur, can I ask you something?"

Arthur rolled over to face the blue-eyed teen, who was looking at him. "Go ahead," he replied.

Alfred blinked and asked, "What happened to you earlier? Why were you on the floor? It wasn't… the sealing was it? I mean…" He looked genuinely concerned when he mentioned the sealing, as if he'd done something wrong… like it was his fault.

"No, it wasn't," Arthur replied quickly. "I think… I may have had a vision. Not that it means anything significant; it's a common thing for sorcerers dealing with a large amount of magical energy."

"Oh, those," Alfred grinned a bit. "I've never had one 'cause of the seal and stuff, but Mattie's had a few and he _hates_ them… Saved Gil from getting gum on his shoe once, though. That was a _hilarious_ day. So what was yours about?"

"Er," Arthur hesitated, since he wasn't exactly sure and he still hoped that he was wrong. "It concerned Matthew, I think." Thinking back, the recognizable person in that vision was either Francis or Matthew due to the hair… either them or someone he didn't know.

"Good or bad?"

"Vague, but I think it was bad… although it wasn't Matthew that was injured."

Alfred looked worried at the mention of someone being injured, but at the same time relieved that it wasn't his brother. "Mkay, 'night."

"Good night."

* * *

Warmth was the first thing Arthur felt upon waking up, and although his half-asleep mind couldn't quite process it immediately, he quickly realized that Alfred pretty much had both arms wrapped around him. It would've been perfectly fine… If he hadn't been well aware that the other only slept three hours a night and it had _definitely_ been more than three hours (meaning Alfred was most likely pretending to be asleep) "A-Alfred!" he exclaimed, blushing and pulling away.

"G'morning, Arthur," Alfred replied as he opened his eyes and confirmed that he _had_ been pretending to be asleep (his voice wasn't slurred or half-asleep sounding)

"What was that?" Arthur couldn't help but be a bit flustered (with confusion, slight embarrassment) and didn't know what exactly to make of that situation. He would admit (not aloud, mind you) to the feeling of waking up in Alfred's arms to be… pleasant at the very least, but just the fact that Alfred had actually gone and gotten in such an awkward position while he was asleep was enough to make him react.

"Okay, Arthur, chill," said Alfred, sitting up. "I woke up, you were shivering, and I couldn't find any extra blankets. The end, okay?" Although the blue-eyed teen was blushing slightly as well, Arthur decided to accept that response.

"In any case, we ought to be getting back to the Academy," Arthur brushed off that unusual awakening and slid out of bed. "Just because we won't have classes for another day or two doesn't mean we can afford to be off campus for this long without permission."

"I thought you said we got permission," Alfred rolled out of bed as well, although he did actually _roll_, landed on the floor, and stood up.

"For yesterday, Alfred," Arthur replied as he pulled his pants from the previous day back on. "Technically, we are breaking the rules by being here, and have been since around midnight last night."

Alfred pulled on his own pants and placed his glasses back on before answering that with, "It's not like we'll get in trouble or anything. They probably didn't notice."

"_Alfred_, with any school that requires you to get permission to go off-campus into the nearby town, the administrative staff are _going_ to notice," said Arthur as he grabbed the box from earlier and shoved it at the blue-eyed teen. "Also, you're carrying this, since you refuse to take the carriage."

"Fine," Alfred took the box and looked at it. "What's in this?"

"I have no idea. Let's go."

"What about your grandfather?"

"He won't care whether or not I speak with him before we depart, and has probably gone into town already. He tends to do so in the morning, although where he goes I'll never know."

With that, they left (Arthur made sure the door was locked behind them, since he knew which of the potted plants next to said door had the key hidden underneath it).

* * *

…**Not much to say here really. xD**


	14. The Box

**…In which there is some seriousness, then a bit of comedy, then seriousness again. This story will gradually unfold itself after this, although I will say that everything I do in this is intentional.**

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* * *

**

It appeared that Alfred had been right about nobody noticing their absence at the moment they arrived back at the Academy; everyone the two saw as they stepped onto the familiar green grass in front of the main building was walking unusually quickly across the grounds, and when Arthur went and asked one of them what was going on, the person responded with a quick, "I don't know." Then, they ran off to catch up with their 'group'.

"Do you think that Ivan told them about me?" Alfred asked with a worried expression, moving a step closer to Arthur.

The green-eyed teenager shook his head and replied, "They aren't even looking at you, Alfred. It must be something else…"

"What else _could_ it be?" Alfred mumbled, although at that point a teacher who happened to be crossing the yard noticed that the two appeared to be confused (because they were), and approached them.

"Excuse me, but could it be that the two of you don't know?" the teacher asked, tilting her head to the side as though that was odd.

"What are we meant to know, exactly?" Arthur responded.

The teacher sighed and looked around like it was something she shouldn't be telling them (although it wasn't, since pretty much everybody except them knew), then said quietly, "A student was attacked by a demon that somehow escaped from the In-Between… He survived, but probably won't recover in time for classes…"

"Who was it?" demanded Alfred.

"I don't know the name," the teacher admitted. "It's made many students incredibly nervous, and I think they were planning an extra trip in between the two realms for this month due to that."

Alfred swore and ran off; probably to go see who exactly it was that had been attacked. "Er, thank you," Arthur said to the teacher before following him.

* * *

The staff at the clinic weren't exactly happy about seeing Alfred again, especially after the incident that took place that other day. "They won't let me in," Alfred griped once Arthur arrived in the 'waiting room' area of the clinic (or at least, that was what it looked like at the moment, seeing as several others were sitting around).

"They aren't letting anyone in," one of the students in the room declared. It was someone who Arthur had seen before, but didn't know the name of. However, he distinctly remembered this brown-haired student that had just spoken to be one of the members of the 'inappropriate actions' group he'd noticed directly upon his arrival at the Academy.

That meant he was most likely one of Francis's friends, and Francis was… Yes, speak of the devil, said blonde-haired Frenchman walked in at that moment to correct the brown-haired student. "Non, that isn't entirely true… They allowed Mathieu in," he said.

Alfred looked relieved to hear that his brother had to be 'allowed in', and therefore wasn't injured… but in that case, who was it? Well, the answer was pretty clear anyway. "If it's Gilbert, then there isn't that much to worry about," he said simply. "…But when did it happen?"

"That would be last night," one of the nurses (the one who happened to be guarding the door to the actual clinic area) replied.

"Yeah, there we go. Gil's probably more upset about not being able to-oof," Alfred stopped when Arthur elbowed him in the stomach, signaling for him to stop before he said something that would get them into trouble with the staff.

"It's likely that everyone's worried about being attacked as well, though," Arthur commented. "This explains the atmosphere on campus…"

"They never found the demon that did it," another one of the people in the room put in. "It attacked 'em, acted like it had made a mistake, and ran off. I was there."

_Made a mistake, huh?_ Arthur glanced at the person who'd spoken and asked, "Did it say anything?" If that were true, then it would definitely have a reason to return and attack someone else. However, he didn't know anyone who could mistake Gilbert for someone else; albino sorcerers weren't exactly common. Then again, there was the possibility it wasn't attacking Gilbert… "Alfred, I think we need to discuss this with your brother."

"If he gets the chance, he probably won't come out of there," Alfred commented, absentmindedly messing with a decorative plant in the corner of the room. "Y'know, 'cause Gil's his _lover_ and all."

"_Alfred_," Arthur hissed, blushing slightly at… basically the _way_ Alfred had said the word 'lover'. Now why did _that_ make him so nervous? He shook his head, brushing it off as himself simply being tired.

"Visitors aren't allowed at night," the nurse from earlier pointed out.

"Well, see? That resolved itself," said Alfred. "So, Arthur, about your box…"

"Oh, right." Green eyes flickered to the box that Alfred was still holding. "I have been wondering about that, so if you need to put it down… It is rather heavy, isn't it?"

"Nah, it doesn't bother me," Alfred replied, grinning. "If you want to go back to your room and open it, though, I'll carry it for you some more."

"That would be wonderful. Thanks."

* * *

Despite everything that had happened, Arthur found that they still ended up the same way: sitting on his bed and talking; although this time there just so happened to be a mysterious box sitting there on the sheets as well. "So, any idea what's in it?" Alfred asked as Arthur tried to pry the stubborn package open.

"Alfred, why do you ask questions that you know the answer to?"

"Same reason you ask me stuff I don't know the answer to."

Arthur looked at the blue-eyed teen with one eyebrow raised slightly. "I _highly_ doubt that, Alfred. In any case, no, I don't have any idea-and I can't get the bloody thing open!" He continued to pull at the tape that held the box shut in frustration.

"Why don't you just use magic?" Alfred laughed.

"It is against the rules to do so."

"Not like anybody'll see if you do it here," the blue-eyed teenager reached for the box, only to have his hand swatted away by Arthur.

"Don't _you_ do it," Arthur sighed as he finally ripped the tape off. "Ah, there we go."

"So what's in it?" Alfred leaned over to look into the box as Arthur opened it.

The top of the box was pulled aside to reveal a mass of dark red fabric, with snips of gold here and there. Arthur reached for it and tugged it out of the box gently, unfolding it to reveal the fabric's true form to be some sort of a coat. However, although the hooded garment was a bit heavy due to the material it was made from, that didn't explain the box's weight at all. Arthur set the coat aside and pulled yet another piece of clothing out of the box: a white shirt with ruffles. "Hm…" He frowned and set that on top of the coat, wondering why his parents would have bothered to send those things and why the box had been so heavy. Then again, it seemed there were still items left in the box; Arthur decided that the inside had probably been enlarged by magic (thus, it held more than it appeared to). Arthur took what appeared to be pants that matched the color and texture of the coat as well as cloth boots from it… and then something he _definitely _wasn't expecting happened.

"Hi jerk Arthur!" exclaimed a young boy with blonde hair and eyebrows thick enough to rival Arthur's as he sprang out of the box.

Alfred started slightly, but Arthur must have jumped about a foot (of course, that was an exaggeration) and then ended up tumbling off the bed backwards to land with his head hitting the floor; this was followed by him sliding down the side of the bed until his back was against the floor and his legs were still propped up against the bed, feet in the air. "Peter, _what in bleeding hell are you doing here_?" he shouted as he scrambled to his feet and slammed the palms of his hands onto the bed sheets.

"Mum and dad sent me," the boy lied, climbing out of the box to jump onto the bed.

Arthur sighed, attempting to calm himself down (it didn't work). "Peter, if they find out you shipped yourself here, you are going to be grounded for-"

"What about when _you_ snuck onto the train and came here?" Peter countered.

Ignoring Alfred's shouts of, "You had to ninja yourself here? Badass!" Arthur replied, "It's a different situation entirely, Peter. Now, the second there is an opportunity, we are sending you home."

"Aw, I knew I should've stayed with grandpa," Peter whined. "But you can't send me home for another month, I know how this stuff works!"

"Unfortunately for you, due to recent events, the train will be put into operation again early," Arthur smirked. Then for a moment, he wondered why Alfred hadn't made any comments about a child popping out of a small box.

Apparently, the other teenager had himself halfway in said box (head first). "Alfred, what are you doing?"

Alfred responded by yelling something along the lines of: "There's something on the bottom of this box but this box is a freak so it's too deep for me to reach!" (it was a bit muffled by the box)

"How deep is that box anyw-Peter, we are not done discussing this," although he had started out with a question, it had quickly turned once he noticed his younger brother trying to sneak out the door.

"Like six feet," Alfred replied, slipping deeper into the box. "How the heck did the little dude jump out of this thing?"

"Magic," Peter replied.

"Alfred, if you fall in and break your neck-_damn it Alfred_!" Arthur had to climb onto the bed again in order to grab the overenthusiastic other's knees to keep him from falling into the box.

"I can almost reach it! Can you grab my ankles instead?"

"You're heavy," Arthur complained, although he did as Alfred requested and moved to holding the other teen's ankles.

"I got it!" Alfred shouted happily.

It took several minutes for Arthur to pull him out of that box, all the while swearing and yelling (things such as "what the hell do you eat?"). Finally, he yanked Alfred out and they both went sprawling onto the floor. "What's this, Arthur?" the blue-eyed teen asked, waving around the small object he'd taken out of the box.

"Get your leg off of mine, and I'll look at it." The fall had sent them into a rather awkward position, with Alfred on top of Arthur, his right leg basically wrapped around the green-eyed teenager's left, along with a whole other mess of tangled limbs. Arthur's face was about as red as a dyed carnation because of this, and Alfred was blushing as well once he realized exactly how close they were.

Alfred managed to untangle them within another few minutes, much to Arthur's relief. "So what is it?"

The object was about as large as a quarter, shaped like a cross of sorts, and appeared to be made of silver or something similar, although it was dotted around the edges with gold. "…A charm?" Arthur guessed after looking it over several times. He took it out of the blue-eyed teen's hand to observe it more closely, and almost instantly upon touching it the magical power contained in the object sent a chill down his spine. "It appears to have some sort of spell on it… Hold on, Alfred?"

"Huh?"

Arthur glanced around the room. _Oh dear lord no…_

Peter had somehow managed to sneak out while the two teenagers had been focusing on the box amongst other things.

* * *

Arthur had dashed out of the room in order to find his younger brother, who he assumed couldn't have gotten very far in that period of time. "Sorry," Alfred mumbled, following him down the stairs.

Surprisingly, it didn't take very long to find Peter; as Arthur approached the boy, however, it became clear why. Standing next to Peter was an irritated-looking blonde woman, arms crossed, who was glaring at Arthur. "…Alfred, we can just leave now," he mumbled quickly, although before he could turn to walk away, the woman strode up to them and grabbed him by the from of the shirt.

"Arthur Kirkland, you have some explaining to do," she snapped.

"Er, hello Mother," Arthur began, trying to avert his eyes.

"Wow, your entire _family_ is here? What did you _do_?" Alfred snickered.

Alfred was wrong about that, of course. As a mortal, Arthur's father wasn't able to cross into the magical realm without consequence and thus would have stayed at home. That didn't change the fact that both his mother and younger brother were there. "I didn't know Peter was here," Arthur stated quickly.

"I did, although I only discovered that after we were well on our way," his mother replied more calmly. "He snuck into that box…"

"It was to see his reaction when I popped out," Peter declared with a grin.

"The box aside, what have you come to do that I won't appreciate?"

Amelia sighed. "As you are aware, a student was attacked and due to that, an extra trip to the mortal world was organized to prevent it from happening again. I agreed to provide the magical power required since I had to come here anyway."

Arthur paused, biting his lip. "…Why is that?" Although knowing his mother, the answer was clear.

"To bring you back to the mortal realm. I never approved of you coming here, and once I heard there was a demon loose my decision was clear."

"I refuse," Arthur responded. "I am legally an adult, and thus am no longer under your jurisdiction."

"I thought you'd say that," Amelia countered. "And while you may be an adult in the mortal realm, the legal age in Sorceryville is _twenty_, and that means I have the right to bring you home from this school."

"You say you hate this place, yet you're using it as an excuse." Arthur was becoming increasingly desperate; he had no doubt that she would use force to take him back to the mortal realm, and if he went, it was unlikely that he would ever be able to return to the Academy, and several other things would go wrong besides.

"The ends justify the means, Arthur."

"I won't be going."

"_Yes_, you _will_, Arthur. The extra train passage will take place tomorrow, so you have until then to pack." With that, Amelia released his shirt. "Come on, Peter, I'll take you into town so you can enjoy yourself before we leave."

With that, both his mother and Peter left. Arthur turned around to glance at Alfred; the blue-eyed teen had been watching that scene unfold with a shocked silence. "So, that's it," Alfred mumbled.

"I don't want to believe it, but it would appear so."

"I won't let it be," Alfred replied more boldly. "I swear, Arthur, you aren't going to have to leave if I can help it."

"Alfred-"

"No, listen! I have a plan, so just let me do this. If it doesn't work though, promise me that you'll meet me under the oak tree in the town square; the ancient one that's been around since Sorceryville started. Tomorrow, before you leave."

Arthur hadn't had a chance to respond before Alfred had run out of the area at a pace that he couldn't match if his life depended on it.

* * *

Alfred ran straight to the clinic, determined to talk to Matthew whether the staff liked it or not. Pushing past the nurse that still guarded the door, he shouted, "Mattie! I need to talk to you!"

* * *

**Gah, I'm tired. I get the feeling I did some useless things in this chapter, or went too quickly… Or forgot something. That'll be my natural insecurity calling. Be sure to point it out if you see something that bothers you, though, because it'll help a lot.**

**I can't believe I actually went with this option, though (Arthur's mother coming to take him back to the mortal realm, that is). I thought about it, but I also thought that I decided I was against it… This thing writes itself, I swear, it just uses my fingers to do it.**


	15. Who is Interfering

**This is later than the others, isn't it? Well, it's because I went to OniCon on Saturday and spent Sunday cleaning and doing Halloween stuff, so I didn't get in my usual weekend writing time.**

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* * *

**

"A-Alfred?" Matthew looked over at the blue-eyed teen that had just burst into the room. He had been sitting next to Gilbert on the clinic bed before, but as his brother slammed the door open, he stood up.

"Geez, do you know how freaking annoying you are?" the albino mumbled; it was something of that sort anyway. Whatever Gilbert had actually said was muffled beyond understanding by the pillow he was currently shoving his face into.

"Feeling like crap, Gil? Get well soon and all," Alfred said that like he really didn't care (because, really, with all the stuff going on, he didn't) and grabbed Matthew by the wrist. "Mattie, I really need to talk to you. _Now_, and since your boyfriend over there ain't exactly going anywhere, you can spare a couple of minutes."

To his surprise, Matthew answered with, "I was going to tell you about that… Didn't know you were back. Um, Gilbert… I'll come back later, okay?"

The albino lifted his face out of the pillow, commanded, "Smuggle me in some pancakes." And then collapsed back into said pillow.

Matthew and Alfred left the clinic before the nurse and various other medical staff could quite tackle Alfred to the ground and force him out of there. Once they reached the outside hallway, Matthew started with, "Where's Arthur?"

"That's what I need to talk to you about."

"…Huh?"

"His mom's forcing him to go back to the mortal realm tomorrow, and it sucks and I want to stop it from happening. So I need to know where you and Gil got attacked."

"Alfred, I realize that he's your friend, but you shouldn't do anything reckless…"

The blue-eyed teen grabbed his younger brother by the shoulders and said seriously, "Mattie, now. I need to know, I have to find it… Arthur isn't just my friend, he's… Just, help me out."

Matthew's eyes widened. "Seriously, Alfred," he gasped. "You're in more danger."

"Why?"

"…Because. That demon attacked me at first, but I think it was mistaking me for you. It called me 'Alfred' twice before Gilbert arrived and started fighting it. Then it nearly killed him and I think it realized I wasn't you, so it left."

"Don't freak out, but I actually expected that sort of," Alfred replied clumsily. "I hoped so, because if it's after me, then I can kill it and fix everything…"

"Alfred, I recognized it," Matthew mumbled.

Alfred froze. "It wasn't…?"

"It was."

"_Damn_."

* * *

That reckless idiot was going to get himself killed. Arthur hadn't chased after him, but as the green-eyed teenager lay on his own bed, clinging to the sheets and on the verge of tears, he couldn't help but wish he had. He glared at the pile of clothing that had come from the box earlier, and mumbled, "What was the point of those if they're going to take me back to the mortal realm…?"

Although, once Arthur thought about it, he remembered that he'd never once seen something like that in his parents' house; along with the fact he'd _certainly_ been _everywhere_ in that house due to his habit of messing around as a child. He reached out and grabbed the coat firmly, pulling it towards himself in order to inspect it more closely. Yes, there were clearly no magical properties to the material, either, and he'd already established that this definitely _wasn't_ from his parents… But then why had it been in the box?

That question wasn't quite answered, although once Arthur lifted a different part of the coat up to inspect that, a note fluttered out of one of the pockets in the inside lining of the coat. He dropped the garment back onto the sheets and picked up the note instead.

_Arthur,_

_First, I must apologize. I made some minor adjustments to your mother's memory in order to get this to you, although I did not expect your brother to climb in as well! The clothing I sent was merely an excuse to hide this note and the brooch at the bottom of the package, which I hope you've found. It is nice, though, isn't it? You may wear it to any formal events in Sorceryville and it will certainly catch people's eye-but I digress._

_You will be wondering who I am, but that is not important at the moment. Only know that I am someone who was bound by contract not to interfere with your life until the one on the other side of the deal broke it. I will not tell you who that was, as it would reveal my own identity as well._

_The brooch is, in reality, a cleverly disguised and very powerful anti-demon weapon. They shouldn't be able to do so much as touch it if I am correct. However, that doesn't apply to half-demons or the like, so be careful._

_I am watching you, and before you find that odd, I am only doing it for your own safety. Despite that, I am incapable of interfering directly due to my contract (and if I am correct, the one who broke our original agreement is still bound by that same law)._

_Oh, and I suppose I ought to advise you to look on page forty-three of a book titled __Ancient Sorceryville Law Codes__. The Academy's library should have it and many of these laws still apply, and I think it could be to your advantage._

The note wasn't signed, and it didn't explain how the writer knew about things that had occurred _after_ the box had been packed, although that was a matter of low importance in comparison to some of the other things it had said. Arthur began by looking again at the charm (or brooch, as the note had referred to it) that Alfred had found inside the box and that Arthur had been holding tightly ever since that moment (in fact, it was starting to cut into his hand a little). "Anti-demon weapon… but it doesn't say how to use it," Arthur mumbled.

Then he contemplated the thought of this person spying on him, which he hoped was some sort of awful joke because he'd had just about enough of people prying into his personal affairs. Although, since there was no other way to explain the note (amongst other things), he was forced to write that bit off as well.

Lastly, there was the matter of that book the note's conclusion mentioned. He wondered why the laws of Sorceryville even mattered to him now that he was being forced to leave… Unless there was something in that book, on that page, that could keep him there! He practically shot up onto his feet, abandoning the note on the bed and dashing out the door.

* * *

"If we die, I'm going to complain to God," Alfred grumbled as Matthew (hesitantly) guided him to the area that the attack had taken place in the previous day. "I mean seriously, out of all the people that exist."

"Are you going to finish that sentence?"

"Nope."

Matthew sighed and stopped. "Around here," he said quietly, glancing around as though something would jump out and kill them at any second.

Alfred looked around as well, but his expression was much less fearful and much more enraged. Then the blue-eyed teen seemed to relax as he noted, "He's not around any more. I can't sense any demonic energy." He still had to reassure himself that after all those years, he would have actually been capable of feeling when that particular demon was near. It had been well over ten years, now that he thought about it.

"Now that you've done that, shouldn't you go see Arthur?" Matthew asked.

Alfred shook his head and replied, "I can't do that. I need to find-"

"Alfred…" Matthew interrupted. "It might not be my place to say this, but… What you n-need to do is…" The younger brother's voice shook as though it was difficult to say-he really did feel like he had no place saying what he wanted to, but if he didn't, there could be consequences. He swallowed his uncertainty and continued quietly, "…It might not be what you think you do! Think for a moment about how Arthur will react to the situation, since you know him better than I do. I mean… Would he really just let it happen?"

"Uh, no? Which is why I need to do it! If I hang around him, then he might get attacked… I mean, you aren't even me, but when you were with Gilbert-"

"Don't talk like you know what happened then!" Matthew's voice was soft as usual, but there was a small flash of anger in his eyes as he shouted that. Despite that, he calmed down quickly and was able to continue normally, "…Besides, I _wasn't_ with Gilbert when I was attacked. He jumped in somewhere in the middle, and do you know how much I wish he hadn't? I mean, h-he got hurt and it's my fault… E-Even if he's going to be okay, it was still…"

"In t-that case," Alfred found it hard to respond when his younger brother was in front of him looking like he was about to start crying. Seriously, he just couldn't handle it-or the fact that Matthew had just made a very, _very_ unnerving point. "Why don't you like, go smuggle him those pancakes or something? I think I need to go check on Arthur. Yeah."

As Alfred left, Matthew smiled a bit and mumbled, "Hm, I might just do that."

* * *

Arthur made a mental note never to ask the librarian about the location of a book ever again and just search for it himself next time; this was because once he'd reached the library and asked where he could find Ancient Sorceryville Law Codes, said librarian had thrown nothing short of a fit about him bothering her. He assumed she wasn't exactly fond of the job, based on that.

Regardless of the librarian's actions, he quickly found the book's location by following the usual filing system. Or, at least, he thought that was where it was-based on the system, it would be on the top shelf; the top shelf which was probably about thirty feet up. He sighed and looked around for the type of sliding ladder that was typical of a library with such tall shelves, and luckily, it was nearby.

Arthur pulled the ladder to the desired location and, making sure it wasn't about to move out from underneath him, he began to climb the steps carefully until he reached the top. _There it is._ He noted to himself, taking the book off of the shelf. _Alright, now to get down and see what this contains._

He easily got off the ladder and back onto the floor (much to his relief, since he'd thought that the ladder would have come out from underneath him or something of the sort), then sat in one of the library's chairs and opened the book carefully; it was large and old-looking, but that was to be expected since it was a book on _ancient law_. He flipped to page forty-three to read what the note had told him to, although once he did so, he got the sudden feeling that it may not have simply been the laws on that page that made it significant.

As soon as the page was revealed, so was the small slip of paper tucked into the book's spine between that page and the one across from it. Arthur took the paper and unfolded it curiously; it couldn't have just been another note from that person or they likely would not have spared the trouble-although he would admit to not having any idea about who that person was or what they thought they were doing.

The handwriting on the paper didn't match the earlier note at all, and furthermore, it didn't appear to be in English or any language Arthur could think of and recognize. It did look like some sort of language, though, so perhaps it was something older? No, that wasn't right either. Arthur shrugged and refolded the paper, telling himself to observe it more closely later and then focusing on the text that was small and seemingly crushed together on the page that he'd turned to.

It didn't take long for Arthur to spot a line that made his heart skip a beat-this could save things yet.

_If there should be an individual who performs a sealing ritual on another individual or an animal, then that person shall be held responsible for regulating the mana flow through that seal; should the individual who performed the ritual change to a separate dimension from whoever the seal is cast upon, this would not be possible. If the seal were to break, the caster will be held in full responsibility and…_

In short, Arthur couldn't be in the mortal realm while Alfred was in Sorceryville or anywhere in the magical dimension. It was true that he had merely taken care of the seal's restoration, but that did change the mana regulation process quite a bit. Come to think of it, had the seal faded because the previous caster had moved dimensions? Or because they had cast it improperly in the first place? In any case, this solved one problem-now to deal with about a thousand others. Arthur stood up and closed the book, only to have the irate librarian from earlier shout at him, "You'd better be checking that out, because I'm not going to reshelf it for you!"

* * *

**Short chapter is short… But yeah.**

**I don't own Hetalia~**


	16. Capture

**I would've had this out sooner, but I spent several days wondering if I should rewrite it… Then I realized I'd spent several days not doing anything to it and decided to just go with my logic.**

**SORRRRYYYY I'm so late.**

**But I still don't do anything useless. Yes.**

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* * *

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"Things are finally beginning to move," Sophia mumbled, toying with a random object from her desk. Ivan, who once again found himself standing in his mother's office, nodded slightly as though in hesitant agreement. "Or," Sophia continued, letting the object fall back onto the desk. "They _were_!" She knocked several things-including the ornate chess pieces that she constantly kept on her desk-to the floor as she spat those last two words with an odd venom tingeing her voice.

Ivan tilted his head to the side in confusion. He hadn't exactly expected that or the flying chess piece that grazed his head after his mother's outburst. Clearly, she either knew something that Ivan didn't or was just insane; it was most likely both.

"I even released a filthy demon from the Realm of Imprisonment to hunt our 'knight'," Sophia said. "I knew it couldn't fail… but then that _stupid, idiotic, thing _attacks the wrong person entirely, sets the campus on high alert, causes the Sorceryville officials to arrange an extra train to the mortal realm for people worried about the escaped demon to get away from the danger… That's where it happened, my dear Ivan. The one who mothered our 'king' came to take him away on that train."

That was probably as logical as things were going to get, so Ivan nodded again. He didn't understand where this was going, however.

Sophia quickly remedied that by continuing, "You are not allowed to let that happen, Ivan. I don't care how you do it, but make it impossible for that 'king' to board the train. As long as it works, I don't care how you do it… just don't kill him, since that would defeat the entire purpose of keeping him here…"

Ivan nodded once again, since he already had a couple of ideas in mind; both were very… _physical_, to say the least. Those plans were products of a mind cracked by way of upbringing, so it made sense. Ivan may have felt himself the victim at times, but in the end, he was the same.

Idea number one: injure Arthur in such a way that the blonde teenager would be unable to cross dimensions (since that was an action that exerted a considerable amount of stress on the body despite use of the train, it wouldn't have to be terribly severe-perhaps some bruising around the torso area). However, Ivan was sure that he would take that a little too far, and as his mother stated, killing Arthur was a bad thing. Idea number two: kidnap Arthur.

* * *

_I can't do this,_ Arthur thought as he walked out of the library, clutching the volume of Ancient Sorceryville Law Codes that he'd ended up checking out (probably one of the only actions that librarian approved of, for whatever reason). _Even though I have the book for reference, using that law as a defense would inform my mother that I did perform the sealing, and furthermore, she would know why. It would mean revealing Alfred's secret to another person, and although he seemed okay with it the first time… I wonder what he really thinks._

This was the only dilemma that kept Arthur from going straight to his mother with the loophole. He really wanted to discuss it with Alfred, but finding the blue-eyed teen in the Academy (especially when he didn't know where Alfred had gone) would be more difficult than finding a gold coin in a field of wheat. The campus itself was just too large, and although Arthur knew that Alfred would have stopped by the clinic first to fetch Matthew, there wouldn't have been anyone else who would have known where the two brothers went after that.

Except… Gilbert, possibly; but he was injured and the clinic staff wasn't exactly allowing everyone and their mother's dog to visit him. The lack of people who knew their location was troubling, but it a hopeless situation was one thing it didn't make if Arthur was willing to shatter the rules a bit. What he could do was a blatant disregard for the limited-magic rule at the Academy: tracking spell.

Now, he wouldn't usually consider such a thing, but if it were really necessary, he would do it without a second thought. It wouldn't be difficult or require any preparation, as long as he wasn't interrupted while mumbling the incantation. So, Arthur leaned against a nearby wall, looked around to make sure there were no other people around, and began to repeat the spell's incantation to himself-quickly so that he wouldn't be found before he was done.

Of course, it was a long string of words to recite, and fate never seemed to be particularly kind to Arthur in any case, so it was pretty much a given that something would interrupt him. That something wasn't a teacher or even a staff member; it was more like a freaking _metal pipe_ hitting him in the stomach.

Arthur cursed silently as he gasped, interrupting the spell. He also dropped the book that he had been clinging to. The impact wasn't exactly as hard as he would have expected from an attack, especially as he looked up and noted that the person assaulting him was none other than Ivan. "What in bleeding hell was-"

Ivan shoved a rag up against his mouth in response, which knocked his head back into the wall as well. This may have contributed to the dizziness Arthur felt as he weakly tried to fight back and shove the taller teenager away. It may have been that or the rag, which was probably wetted with some sort of chemical. Either way, Arthur blacked out quickly, with his last conscious thought at the time being something along the lines of: _Damn it, Alfred, why are you there every time I need you except for this one…?_

He knew that was true, even if his definition of every time he needed Alfred wasn't only the dangers that the two had faced together before. It wasn't just when they were fighting the dragons, or when Ivan had attacked them the first time…

It was a constant need to be near the blue-eyed teenager, and Arthur hadn't realized it until that moment.

* * *

Arthur woke up on his back, in a place that was surprisingly comfortable despite the situation through which he'd arrived there. There were also the ropes that pinned his arms against his side, which he assumed had been added to keep him from escaping wherever the place was.

Glazed-over green eyes scanned the room, with Arthur's half-conscious mind trying to get a better picture of his prison. He was laying on a small bed of some sort, in a cramped room lit only by a small, black tinted window on one of the walls. Based on the way the light went through, he assumed that there wasn't… well, outside on the other side of that wall, but another room that likely had a source of light that wasn't a window.

Despite the fact that there were ropes around his arms, it appeared that Ivan or whoever had added them hadn't bothered to bind his legs. That made it rather easy for him to sit up, slide off of the bed, and land on his feet. Arthur knew it wasn't going to be that easy, something that was confirmed when he attempted to open the door by using magic and the door _shocked_ him, sending him falling back onto the bed as the small amount of electricity that was no doubt generated by a spell coursed through his body.

Soon after that, the door opened and Ivan stepped into the room. "Do not misunderstand," he said coldly. "You will be released within a day or so… that is acceptable, da?"

"No, it isn't!" Arthur snapped. "I want to know why you've kidnapped me and, while you're explaining that, what you could possibly stand to gain _or_ lose by spreading Alfred's identity-"

Ivan cleared his throat loudly to interrupt. "In the end, I am not the one behind everything," he replied calmly.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Arthur growled, although the question went unanswered as Ivan walked back out of the room quickly, slamming the door shut.

* * *

Meanwhile, Alfred was running through various hallways and swearing in frustration at the fact he couldn't find Arthur, or find anyone that seemed to have any idea where Arthur was. Alfred was trying to take Matthew's advice (or something like that), damnit, so why was it so difficult? He'd even stopped by Arthur's room and knocked on the door for about ten minutes before deciding that Arthur wasn't in there and that the door had suffered enough abuse.

Okay, so where else in the Academy might Arthur have gone? Alfred sure as hell couldn't think of anything, especially with the whole 'about-to-get-sent-home-if-they-did-not-do-something' situation.

He had no doubt that Arthur could use some spell or something to find _him_, but the question was whether or not his friend would _want_ to, after everything that had gone on. So Alfred could go back to doing whatever he was before (completing the plan he'd only thought through half way or so), but then everything that he'd done to find Arthur would go to waste-and frankly, finding Arthur was more important than keeping him on Sorceryville. Especially if he was in danger by staying…

Yeah, maybe that would be better, anyway. That kind of thinking was depressing, but it did make sense that if Arthur left, then Arthur would be safe in the mortal realm. Alfred didn't expect the demon to go after his friend rather than himself, but it was better to be safe, wasn't it? That's what he would tell Arthur when he found him, he decided; right after the other thing.

* * *

_If I am to regulate the mana flow of the seal, I suppose I accomplish it naturally. If that is true, then I should be able to change it at will, correct? If I can change it in such a way that Alfred notices, then perhaps I have an opportunity to be rescued. _These were Arthur's thoughts as he lay on the bed and wondered what exactly he was going to do regarding his current predicament.

He was quite sure that Alfred wouldn't know what was going on if he suddenly increased or decreased the mana that had linked the two of them together since the sealing ritual, and to tell the truth, Arthur wasn't sure of the results himself. He only guessed that there had to be a way.

Things would have been a hell of a lot easier if Arthur fully understood mana and its role in sealing; as it was, he hadn't known about that connection until the law from that one book had stated it existed.

It seemed his education was lacking somewhat as well, although he'd previously scolded Alfred for being ignorant.

Arthur's train of thought was interrupted when the door opened again. He sat up, expecting to see Ivan (and if he did, he was planning to demand further explanation as to why he'd been kidnapped), but no. It was Natalia instead (fond memories, those-Arthur hoped she wasn't carrying a knife this time), and she strode into the room like she owned the place.

"I don't see it," Natalia stated simply. "I don't understand why Brother thinks you're so important, or Mother does…"

"Your mother?" Arthur asked, trying to sound much more confident than he felt. He was still bound, and if the girl decided to pull a weapon out and attack him, he was basically defenseless (Arthur wasn't positive that she wouldn't; she seemed a bit unhinged just like her brother).

"You've heard of her, surely," Natalia continued. "The head administrator at this place, and yet she's interested in one such as yourself. I don't understand what kind of power you could possibly possess to make them want it…" She then pulled out the very thing that Arthur hadn't wanted to see: a knife. "…But it doesn't matter, because I have to kill you. If I do that, Brother will surely acknowledge me."

She started advancing towards him, so Arthur quickly said, "Wait! I don't understand it either, so… Perhaps we could settle on something less drastic?" He had to make some sort of effort to save his own skin.

Natalia paused and crossed her arms. "You… Don't appreciate being sought after by my family?"

"I absolutely despise it."

That may have been the very worst thing Arthur could have said in that situation. "You don't appreciate it?" Natalia screeched as she uncrossed her arms and continued towards him with the knife at the ready (although Arthur was making his best attempt to back away, there was only so much room to back up in). "Every single day I wish that Brother might accept my feelings… want me… but you have that, and you hate it?"

"I-It's not the same as you feel," Arthur protested in a continuing attempt to save himself. "I've been kidnapped, attacked, and insulted. It's the opposite!"

A furious Natalia, however, ignored his shouting so instead he turned to a less diplomatic plan of action. Arthur jumped off the bed and pushed past her to reach the open door. This would have been a wonderful plan-he could hear Natalia stumble as she tripped over her own skirt-if it weren't for the fact that Ivan was right outside the door to press a large hand against his mouth (thus blocking any shouting for help he might have been planning to do) and grab him by the collar of his shirt. "Brother!" Natalia exclaimed in surprise, her voice immediately becoming much sweeter.

"Natalia, you are not allowed to harm this person," Ivan replied as coldly as he could manage, although for a reason Arthur couldn't quite determine his voice was shaking.

"But, Brother-"

Ivan shifted just enough to shove Arthur past Natalia and back into the room. The green-eyed teenager fell back onto the bed, cursing underneath his breath. "Mind telling me what the hell-" Arthur started, although before he finished his request Ivan and Natalia left the room, slamming the door behind them.

_Damn it._

_

* * *

_

**See the chain reactions I've set off? Sophia explained one.**

**Alfred removes the cameras from Arthur's room so Sophia and Ivan don't know that Arthur has found a loophole and assume they need to do something so their (Sophia's) plan won't go to hell. Alfred was an idiot yet again and left Arthur alone so Ivan could attack and kidnap him, which would mean that he obviously wouldn't be able to get on a train…**

…**But wait. Then why did I make the other loophole? Exactly.**

**Hm.**


	17. Confession

**In which I wrote a scene that never seemed to turn out right. I rewrote it five times. (that one scene, not the whole thing)**

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* * *

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_Damn it._

Alfred paused for a moment to glance around. That was a but freaky; he'd been pretty sure he was in an empty hallway, which meant there was no reason for him to be hearing Arthur's voice. Well, maybe he was just going crazy, because he also _felt_ weird. Something made him wonder what exactly could have caused the sensation that was currently running through his body and felt like pure energy… coming from his arm.

Without hesitation, Alfred yanked up his sleeve to look at the seal placed on his arm. Much to his shock, instead of the usual deep black that he'd learned was a good thing, the color was something odd and glowing that Alfred eventually decided was fading between a sea foam green and a pale blue. He couldn't even begin to think about what that meant, since he didn't know crap about seals, and the feeling it gave him was indescribable.

_Alfred, you'd better hurry up and rescue me._

There was Arthur's voice again; pulling the sleeve back down, Alfred wondered if the two things were connected. "Okay, so I'm either going crazy," he mumbled, starting back down the hallway. "Or I'm going to follow these weird voices in my head and I'm going to find Arthur. Who apparently needs rescuing."

He really was going crazy, wasn't he? Of course he could save Arthur if Arthur was in trouble-he was a hero, right? Still, that didn't mean Arthur was actually in trouble. Alfred tried to convince himself that he was just imagining it, but as he started to run in the direction that he felt the energy and the voices coming from, all of it only increased.

Then it was confirmed that Arthur was probably in some kind of situation when Alfred ran smack into none other than Ivan. "Where are you going?" there was a hint of amusement in the taller teen's voice as he said this.

"Saving Arthur!" Alfred replied loudly, hoping that if his friend were near by, then his voice would be heard.

"I'm afraid he is not here."

"Don't give me that bull! I heard him!"

Ivan looked surprised at this. "You heard him, da?" he smirked. "How exactly would you do that?"

Alfred didn't know how to respond to that; it didn't make a whole lot of sense to him either.

* * *

Arthur had decided to try his hand at manipulating the mana flow to the seal in his favor; if he increased it, then maybe Alfred would notice something was off. He still wasn't sure how this worked, though, so it wasn't like he was expecting that much. Then again, it would be nice if things went exactly like he wanted, right?

Willing Alfred to save him, Arthur continued to focus on the mana that was now apparent in their connection; meaning that it was much more prominent now than before. It had been there ever since the sealing ritual, of course.

His thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the very thing he'd wanted to hear that entire time.

"_Saving Arthur!"_

Then before Arthur could do a double take, he heard it again and confirmed that it was indeed Alfred's voice outside the door.

"_Don't give me that bull! I heard him!"_

Alfred had heard him? Momentarily, Arthur wondered how the blue-eyed teen could have heard him if he wasn't actually making any noise. However, he decided not to look this gift horse in the mouth and began to shout so that Alfred could find him. "Alfred? I'm in here!"

There was a loud crashing sound outside the door, and it occurred to Arthur that Alfred had probably been talking to _Ivan_ and not just randomly shouting responses to questions that Arthur hadn't heard.

"_Let me past! I freaking heard his voice just now, which proves he's in there!"_

It was at that point the door simply collapsed into pieces, smashed by… Alfred's back. It looked like Ivan had attempted to get the teenager away from the room's entrance, but it had backfired. "Alfred!" Arthur exclaimed in both relief at seeing the other and panic due to the fact that he'd just been slammed through a wooden door.

"Oh, hey Arthur!" Alfred recovered quickly and stood up, brushing bits of wood and drywall off of his back. "I like, heard you in my head so I came here. Freaky, right?"

As much sense as that didn't make, Arthur wasn't about to bother with how or why. "Would you mind untying me? We can bother with the details later."

"No time," Alfred replied, referring to the fact that Ivan seemed to be recovering from whatever the blue-eyed teenager had done while they were fighting. Instead, he opted to pick Arthur up and carry the green-eyed teenager-bridal style-through the hole in the wall where the door had been.

Ivan looked like he would attempt to stop them (Arthur had no doubts about that, although he still didn't know why) so Arthur improvised and cast a quick spell to paralyze the taller teenager for the moment. Since it was hastily done, it wouldn't last long. Alfred seemed to realize that (or perhaps he'd just had enough of being there) because he began moving a great deal more swiftly.

* * *

They escaped without further problems and once they reached a certain hallway (neither of them was really sure where they were, since Alfred had been guided there by the mana thing that even Arthur was confused about and Arthur had been brought to that room unconscious), Alfred set Arthur down and knelt to untie him. "Thanks," Arthur said quietly.

"No problem! I am a hero, after all," Alfred responded as he practically ripped the ropes off of Arthur's body, being careful not to injure him at the same time.

However, when Arthur flinched, the blue-eyed teenager had to wonder if he was being a little less gentle than he'd thought he was. "You okay?" he asked.

"…No, actually."

Alfred had been afraid of a response like that. It only made everything a lot harder. "Arthur, I was thinking about the whole you-going-back-to-the-mortal-realm thing, and since I realized I couldn't kill the demon that caused this whole thing, maybe it would be better if you went," Alfred blurted out, although it ended up sounding a lot harsher than he'd meant. It was supposed to sound like he cared, not like it did (like he was just trying to get rid of Arthur). He tried to correct it by continuing, "I mean, it's not like I don't want you here, 'cause I do, but you're in some kind of danger!"

The last part didn't exactly have the intended effect. "Don't treat me like I'm defenseless!" Arthur snapped (he seemed to have recovered from the previous incident rather quickly as a result of his irritation). "I _was_ going to calmly inform you that I'd found a way to remain in Sorceryville, but if you'd rather me leave because god forbid I be in any sort of danger-by the way, Alfred, I imagine the demon _was not_ a threat to me, but rather you-"

"W-Wait, how do you figure?" Since he'd spoken to Matthew, Alfred knew that was true, but how would Arthur know? Besides, the demon wasn't the only reason; there was Ivan to think about.

"Gilbert was obviously not the intended target, seeing as he escaped with his life," Arthur explained. He hadn't spoken to Matthew (and therefore had no idea that Matthew had been attacked first), but the logic played out. "I can therefore imagine that he was protecting your brother, seeing as they are lovers. Also, although I haven't yet done so, I have noticed that some people tend to mistake Matthew for yourself… particularly that one dark-skinned fellow, whatever his name was."

"Yeah, I don't like that guy," Alfred noted. "And you're right about that, 'cause I talked to Mattie and he said it was after me, but that doesn't matter! Not only did Ivan just freaking kidnap you, I _know_ that demon and he'll attack you just because I… I lo… love… I love you, okay?"

That was just about the hardest left that the conversation could have taken at that point. Arthur swallowed nervously and asked (just to be sure he'd heard right), "You… What?"

"I. Love. You," Alfred repeated plainly.

There was quite a long moment of incredibly awkward silence at that point as Alfred waited for a reaction and Arthur tried to process his confession. Finally, Alfred broke the silence by shouting, "Well, _say_ something so I don't feel like a dumbass!"

If ever there was an impossible request, then that was it. Arthur's feelings for the teenager who was now staring at him with a slightly panicked expression had only recently become clear to him, and he hadn't imagined a situation where _Alfred_ said it first. There weren't any words to describe how he felt; he couldn't even think about the danger Alfred had pointed out, not now.

So it was then that Arthur did the only thing that he _could_ think of: he quickly lifted his hands up, tangled his fingers in Alfred's messy blonde hair, and lifted himself up enough to fiercely press their lips together in a messy but passionate kiss.

Alfred had been tense at first, but quickly recovered and wrapped his arms around Arthur's waist to pull the shorter teen closer to him; their bodies were almost impossibly close once he did so.

Neither of the two moved past that, however, and eventually Arthur broke the kiss so that they could both get some much-needed air. "I… love you too," he gasped as he allowed his hands to fall from Alfred's hair to the back of the blue-eyed teenager's neck. At this point, Arthur couldn't tell whether things were moving much too fast or they were going slower than usual; and to tell the truth, he didn't care.

"That's why you have to go back to the mortal realm," Alfred replied quietly with a large amount of hurt in his voice. "That demon will _destroy_ you, because you matter to me. I can't let that happen."

Here they were, sitting on the floor with Arthur nearly pressed against a wall (having just made out for god only knows how long), wrapped in each others' arms, and Alfred was still suggesting that he leave. Although it was understandable that he would be concerned for Arthur's safety, Arthur hadn't yet told him why it was impossible for them to be in separate dimensions. So, he did just that.

"Alfred, because I regulate the mana flow to your seal, I can't leave."

"What?" Alfred looked confused, probably because Arthur hadn't bothered to explain further.

"If I leave, the seal will basically fail. I'm assuming that is part of the reason you broke through the one that existed before."

"Oh. Well, crap."

"…Are you that upset that I'm staying?"

"No! I mean, I'm happy that you can stay, but I'm upset because you'll get hurt if you're here," Alfred explained clumsily.

"I can defend myself, Alfred. We defeated a dragon together, and thus I assume we can do the same with a demon."

"Two dragons," Alfred corrected him, looking a little happier.

"The second was just you."

"Oh. Well, that doesn't change the fact that I _can't_, Arthur. I can't kill him."

Arthur was rightly frustrated at Alfred's insistence upon being difficult. "Why?" he demanded. "Why are you so bloody convinced that you can't slay this demon when you haven't tried?"

This was a question that Alfred had been avoiding for a while; it was uncomfortable. "Well… the demon… he's like… my dad."

After that, there was yet another moment of silence as Arthur tried to process what that meant (he seemed to be doing that a lot lately and as such began to question if he'd been getting enough rest or not) and Alfred waited while nervously chewing on his own lip. "Please tell me there is a good reason your father would be trying to murder you," Arthur replied finally. "Rather, tell me there isn't and I have nothing to worry about."

"He's flipped his lid. I don't know."

"Lovely," Arthur sighed. "Now, tell me why you are incapable of fighting him. If it's an issue of power difference, then you have me. If it's an issue of blood being thicker than water, it's self-defense and you still have me. I highly doubt it is the former, seeing as incubi often have little combat power in comparison to other types of demons."

"I take option number three," Alfred snorted. "I'd beat the living hell out of him if I could, and I totally could if it weren't for us being related. I don't care that we're related, but apparently my body does, because I can't attack him."

"You're physically incapable of attacking him? Why is that?"

"No freaking idea."

"Alfred…" Arthur leaned forward slightly to rest his head on the other teen's shoulder; he was tired of things being as complicated as they were. Once this whole affair was over, he would be more than happy to dedicate his effort to normal class work (as normal as it could be for a school of magic) rather than this insane struggle they had gotten themselves into. "I can't leave, so we'll make it work."

"What if you weren't in control of the seal?" Alfred mumbled.

"I doubt my mother would allow me to stay, but I'd still attempt it," Arthur replied. "After all, I can't just up and leave after that little occurrence, can I?"

"Yeah, that would be-" Alfred paused to look around. "We're in a hallway."

"Yes, I suppose we are. Since no one has yet found us, I assume it would be a hallway most don't normally travel," Arthur replied, blushing. "Er, if someone did find us, it would be rather awkward, wouldn't it?"

Somehow their position had gone from Alfred down on one knee to untie Arthur (who had been sitting against the wall both ways) to Alfred practically sitting on top of Arthur's legs with both of them having their arms wrapped around the other. It would have been quite embarrassing for someone to find them in such an intimate position. This, of course, meant that the second they realized that, someone did come across them.

"Ohhh my gosh!" a voice shouted, causing the both of them to glance up.

The person wasn't someone who Arthur knew, but with the size of the Academy and the short amount of time he'd spent with people other than Alfred there, that may as well have been a given. It was a girl with long, brown hair and green eyes; both of the two on the floor were too distracted by their thoughts of '_Oh my god someone found us_' and the like to observe further.

"This may look very odd," Arthur said quickly. "But, er, I can explain what-"

"No need," the girl interrupted happily. "I'm-"

"Gilbert and my brother are probably doing it in the clinic!" Alfred shouted suddenly.

The girl gasped and Arthur could swear she was probably seeing stars in her joy at those words (although Arthur couldn't imagine why, and he didn't want to since it was sort of scary). "Please don't mind my interruption!" she exclaimed, although she had taken out a camera and was now heading off in the opposite direction (presumably to go find Matthew and Gilbert).

"That was Elizabeta," Alfred explained. "She's obsessed with guy love. Although if you tell her Gil and Mattie are having sex-which they actually might be, I dunno-she'll try to find them instead."

"…Interesting," Arthur commented. "Now get off before she realizes you were lying and comes back."

Alfred held up his index finger and replied happily, "One condition."

Before Arthur could ask what that condition was, Alfred took custody of his lips again.

* * *

**I feel like I should be putting something here but eh. Reviews give me joyfulness and I don't own Hetalia.**


	18. Figuring Things Out

After untangling themselves from each other, Arthur and Alfred had discussed several matters including how Arthur planned on convincing his mother that he ought to stay in Sorceryville. They were both worried about it, no matter how much Alfred maintained a spoken opinion of, "As long as you can stay, I don't care if you tell the whole world!" Especially since Arthur had known his mother to have a very negative opinion of demons and the like.

It didn't help that there wasn't enough time left in the day to track Amelia down and give her the details (seeing as she hadn't told them where her and Peter were staying and her previous comments had led to the conclusion that she would be in town nearly all day; this was a problem since Alfred still refused to be anywhere near the possessed scarecrow). They would have to convince her the next day, by which time she would be sure Arthur would be leaving, and Amelia generally wasn't one for last minute change-of-plans.

Problem number two was not nearly as simple as making Arthur's mother furious, however. This problem encompassed all their enemies such as Ivan, Alfred's father, and Ivan's mother (according to Natalia, at least; Natalia who, by the by, wasn't exactly on the list of enemies due to the fact she seemed like she would be relatively happy if Arthur stayed the hell away from Ivan, something he was glad to do).

Alfred couldn't fight against his own father, and that meant Arthur needed to do it alone. This turned both of the teenagers' attention towards the cross Alfred had found earlier, the 'anti-demon weapon' if that strange note had been correct. Needless to say, neither of them had any idea regarding how it could help them. The two went back to the library (avoiding the woman who had yelled at Arthur earlier) to do some research, although that little endeavor ended up being Arthur researching and Alfred making paper airplanes out of scrap paper and tossing them all over the floor.

In the end, Arthur was still sitting at one of the library's tables with about ten books of varying sizes (which reminded him that he still needed to find the book he'd dropped when Ivan attacked him, although he assumed someone had probably found it by then). Some were on incubi and others were simply volumes that had mentions of anti-demon weapons.

"Found anything yet?" Alfred asked, looking over Arthur's shoulder.

"Not quite what we were searching for," Arthur replied as he placed one of Alfred's pieces of paper in the book as a place marker and closed it. "I did find some interesting information involving incubi, however, as well as your own species."

"Sweet," Alfred commented. "Like what?"

"I suppose this is a given with most demons, but did you know, Alfred, that your lifespan is nearly limitless? Granted you could be killed, but were you to die of natural causes it would take hundreds of thousands of years."

Alfred made a short whining noise at that. "Arthur, isn't _your_ lifespan only a couple thousand years?"

Arthur stopped, considering. Alfred was right, of course, so it appeared their falling in love could be compared to a human falling in love with any immortal-bound to end earlier than it ought to. "Alfred, please don't be pessimistic when I'm attempting to save our lives, thanks."

"I'm just _saying_."

"Now isn't the time, besides, as I am a sorcerer I have no doubt that I will be able to prolong my life somehow." That was a blatant lie; Arthur was quite sure that wasn't possible.

"So, what else was there?" With that, Alfred changed the subject back and wrapped his arms around Arthur from behind (of course, this pretty much included the back of the chair Arthur had been sitting in).

"Incubi themselves don't die unless you almost completely disembowel them," Arthur noted from memory, grimacing. He didn't look forward to that.

"Gross."

"Yes, quite. Now, there was also a bit about this cross we have here… I believe it is meant to repel demonic energy, but there wasn't anything else, like how it could possibly be used as a weapon."

"Like if demons can't touch it 'cause it does that repel thing, what if you shoved it down their throat and they exploded or something?"

"That's disgusting, Alfred. Besides, I don't believe that was the intended purpose."

"Then what was the 'intended purpose'?"

"I don't know," Arthur sighed. He would have set his head down on the desk in exhaustion if it weren't for the fact that Alfred was still holding onto him; that was better in any case, so he didn't mind.

"Hey, don't feel bad," Alfred mumbled. "It's amazing that you read through all those books in, what, three hours?"

"Three and a half," Arthur groaned. He then glanced at the paper airplanes that practically covered the floor. "It's amazing that you carry around that much paper and had the inspiration to fold them all into paper airplanes for three and a half hours."

Alfred grinned and hugged Arthur more tightly.

* * *

"Ivan, I cannot tolerate failure," Sophia mumbled. Once again they were in her office, and once again Sophia was irritated about something or other going wrong.

"Da." At this point, Ivan didn't really care what his mother was going to do, because he wasn't exactly in control of the situation and neither was she. He wondered why she wouldn't go and do what needed to be done herself, but didn't ask since his mother would likely only get angrier; it was probably for her reputation as head administrator of the Academy.

That wasn't actually the case, however. Sophia would have gladly risked her reputation to obtain that power (she hadn't specified to anyone what it was, however), seeing as it wouldn't matter if she succeeded-that kind of power would render any negative feelings towards her useless. Of course, she was not the one who could use that power.

"However, I will tolerate it," Sophia continued. Ivan was the only one who could take the power and use it because long ago she had put herself into a situation that made her own use of such abilities impossible. "In two days' time, we will be able to enact the plan. During the start of the year festival, an eclipse will occur, and that will allow us to transfer that power to you."

Even though he was meant to be wielding whatever this power was, Ivan still had no idea how it worked or what it even meant. His mother had reassured him many times that he would know when it mattered; that she could take care of everything before that moment. This meant that Ivan could only agree to everything Sophia proposed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Alfred and Arthur had left the library in favor of spending more time in Arthur's room (that and Arthur was complaining about being exhausted). Alfred was sitting on the bed with the bottom half of his legs hanging off the edge and Arthur lying across his lap comfortably, half-asleep. "There has to be a way to resolve this," Arthur mumbled mostly to himself.

Alfred did take notice, however, and responded, "Hey, maybe you can… Nah, you know what, never mind."

"What is it?" Arthur raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"It's stupid," Alfred admitted. "…But I thought that maybe all this is leading up to something, like in the stories. Then, if it was, we'd only have to deal with whatever's at the end of this whole thing."

Arthur shot up, much to Alfred's surprise. "That's it!" he exclaimed, glancing at a very shocked Alfred. "Alfred, if everything that's going on leads to a single moment… then… we need to find out what that moment is."

"I wasn't being serious. I mean, we can't put stuff like Ivan attacking you to my dad attacking Matt," Alfred replied hastily.

"Ah, but we can," Arthur noted. "Alfred, do you think before you speak? You even mentioned that he was trying to attack you instead, and I have a theory regarding why."

"Because he's insane?"

"Although there is that, did you know that demons regarded as dangerous by the council that also runs the Academy are locked in a separate dimension? Thus, for your father to be released in Sorceryville, that council would need to free him from that dimension. Ivan's mother is the head of the council, as you pointed out as well…" Arthur paused at that point as though to think about the situation further.

"So they are connected!" Alfred exclaimed during the pause. "Wait, but Ivan was attacking you and my dad's after me, so how exactly does both of us kicking the bucket benefit them?"

"I can't remember everything that has occurred," Arthur mumbled quietly. "I do know, however, that my death is not what they intend to cause. If so, I imagine Ivan would have let his sister slit my throat when I was captured. Perhaps they mean to kill you, though… It makes sense, seeing as you've protected me…"

"Yeah, I don't really care if it's about me," Alfred pointed out. "I've had people after my life more times than I can count."

"Be that as it may, Alfred," Arthur sighed. "I _do_ care…"

"I know, but at least we know what they've got planned for me so we can deal with it! I'm worried about why they're so damn obsessed with you!"

"I believe I know that as well… or not. I mentioned that Ivan's sister attempted to kill me, but Ivan stopped her. As she did so, she mentioned some sort of ability that Ivan wants and I appear to possess."

"So, is it 'cause you're from some kind of crazy-powerful family or whatever?"

"No, I don't believe so. Were it my natural amount of magical energy, the same effect could be achieved by draining more than one person and in the past had been. As for a family ability, I am not aware of anything of the sort."

"Well then. We're back to square one."

"I would not say so. After all, we've come to the conclusion that everything can be traced to one thing, and that is their attempt to steal whatever my ability is. A transfer of power can only be completed under certain conditions, so it's safe to assume that there will be one point at which everything will end."

"When?"

"Off the top of my head, there's nothing. In the morning, we should acquire a lunar calendar." Arthur blinked sleepily and flopped back onto the bed, grabbing one of the pillows and positioning it underneath his head.

Alfred got up off the bed, and then asked, "Can I stay with you tonight?"

"Mmm… Why?" Arthur didn't move at all as he asked this in a tired manner, his eyes closed and his back to Alfred at this point.

"'Cause I'm still worried about you."

"No need, but… want to… you can."

Parts of it were mumbled, probably due to the fact that Arthur was basically falling asleep, but Alfred got the message clearly (or interpreted it as he wanted, whichever) and climbed back onto the bed, collapsing next to Arthur. "'Night."

* * *

**Short AND late… darn. Sorry.**


	19. GoodBye

Arthur woke up to the feeling of Alfred's warm breath on the back of his neck, and the taller blonde's arms around his waist; although he was sure they had not fallen asleep that way, it was not like he was going to complain. Then he recalled that, despite the temporary escape his bedroom provided, at the moment he couldn't afford to waste any time. "Alfred, wake up," he mumbled sleepily after trying to sit up, only to find the other's grip too firm to allow him such a movement.

"I _am_ awake," Alfred replied, without a hint of tiredness in his voice. "Just don't wanna get up since you're comfy."

"Alfred, we have things to do," Arthur protested, squirming half-heartedly against Alfred's arms. He didn't want to, but it was necessary. "Get off, you git."

"Oh yeah, we have to tell your mom why you can't leave." Alfred didn't exactly let go, instead sitting up and pulling Arthur up with him, into his lap. "And we should ask her if she knows why psychos might be after you."

"Alfred, I doubt she'll be in a good enough mood to do anything other than curse us after we inform her of my needing to stay," Arthur chuckled softly, although he wasn't kidding about his mother being upset enough to shoot a spell or two their way.

"Your family's weird, Arthur," commented Alfred with a grin.

Raising an eyebrow, Arthur noted, "…Says the cambion whose father is attempting to kill him."

"I never said my family wasn't!" Alfred pointed out, laughing despite the way in which his family was 'weird'.

"Now, Alfred; train station-I suppose we're still wearing the same clothing we were yesterday…"

"I'll go change!" Alfred exclaimed, practically shooting up off the bed and sending Arthur tumbling back onto it in the process. "Meet me at the… uh… your door! I'll run back up!"

Arthur sighed and pulled himself up into a sitting position on the bed. Alfred's carefree attitude was quite endearing, although Arthur couldn't help but wonder if he'd be able to keep up with the energetic teenager for very long. Even if they were the same age-with Arthur being perhaps a few months older-Alfred made him feel like both a love struck child and a tired old man at the same time.

Perhaps it wasn't the best way to describe the way he felt about the blue-eyed teen, but Arthur didn't exactly have time to write poetry about it; he had no doubt that Alfred would be back upstairs in a matter of minutes and whether they were meant to be dating or not he would be damned if he was going to let Alfred catch him changing… at that point in time, anyway.

Arthur quickly shed the old clothing, neatly folding it and setting it aside as he did so despite the feeling that he needed to hurry. He pulled on his underwear first, of course-the neat white button-down shirt and casual black pants followed. For a moment Arthur debated whether or not to wear a tie or vest in addition to that, but settled for stringing the anti-demon cross like a pendant and tying it around his neck; being prepared for such a battle couldn't hurt.

Finally, he was prepared; so, Arthur walked to the door and flung it open. Now, he hadn't quite expected Alfred to have returned that quickly, and in fact had believed that he had gotten dressed rather quickly-but there Alfred was, standing outside the door like he'd been waiting there for a long time.

"You're slow," Alfred complained, but with a hint of playfulness in his voice. "We going now?"

"Ah, yes," Arthur replied, stepping out of the door and shutting it behind himself. "By the by, Alfred, how did you change clothes that quickly?"

"Magic," Alfred said casually, completely ignoring Arthur's shocked expression.

"Alfred, that's against the _rules_-"

"It's only against the rules when someone sees you!" Alfred exclaimed cheerfully.

Arthur sighed. "No, Alfred, and that's utterly ridiculous."

"Well, I got it done is what matters! Right, let's go!" Alfred grabbed Arthur's wrist and, in the end, practically dragged the shorter teen down the stairs (it was a miracle Arthur didn't trip, really, although it did seem like Alfred would have taken care of that had it happened).

* * *

"By the by, Alfred, we don't have three hours to walk into town," Arthur pointed out once they were outside of the school building, since it was clear that Alfred _had_ planned on walking. "…Along with that, it appears whatever transport the other students had to the train station has left already since we overslept. You do realize that we have no other option than to call the-"

"But it's _possessed_, Arthur. Possessed by a _ghost_ or a spirit or something like that!" Alfred shouted. "It's probably _evil_ or psychotic!"

If Alfred insisted on being dramatic, then so be it. However, they didn't have the sort of time to walk (as Arthur had mentioned before) and while Arthur had no doubt his mother would make some attempt to fetch him before the train departed, she would most likely be very angry about it-provoking her further than necessary would be a near fatal mistake, after all. Arthur shuddered.

"_Please_, Alfred?" Suddenly Arthur's tone was much softer, almost like he was begging; perhaps that would work better than yelling. Alfred already seemed to be affected by it.

"Um." Alfred stared at him for a moment with a blank expression, so Arthur had no idea which way things were going to go at the moment. Finally, Alfred continued with, "Okay, but I'm _not_ talking to it! Or touching it! Or even looking at it!"

Arthur sighed with relief. "I'll make the arrangements, then." With that, he held out his left hand and snapped his fingers twice.

Instantly a change was noticeable, with flocks of birds flying from the nearby forest accompanied by numerous crashing noises. The scarecrow-driven carriage bolted out from between the trees, the large, furry-hoofed horses that pulled it snorting as though they'd just been through a field of smoke or the like. "Yeh called?" the scarecrow asked, grinning as the carriage jammed to a stop directly in front of the two young wizards.

"Er, yes," Arthur mumbled, ignoring Alfred's cries of: "I _told_ you it was psycho!"

"So what'chu two need?" Straw stuck out of the scarecrow's mouth as it grinned, a strand or two falling to the ground with every word.

"We seem to have missed the transportation to the train station," Arthur explained as Alfred grabbed his arm. "Could you take us instead?"

"'Course I can! Just did tha same thing fer some other folk," the scarecrow chuckled. "Git in!"

"Thank you." Arthur stepped into the carriage, pulling a very hesitant (and clingy) Alfred in with him.

Now, Arthur's ride to the Academy had been nice, quiet, slow, and enjoyable-albeit much faster than simply walking. He supposed he had expected the same for this ride; however, the scarecrow was apparently on some sort of schedule or perhaps the animation charm had been further botched this time-the moment the scarecrow shouted, "Gee-up!" The carriage jolted forward, sending Alfred and Arthur sprawling on top of each other within it, and continued from there.

The carriage did reach its destination well before half an hour had passed, probably because the scarecrow showed absolutely no mercy with its reckless driving-if what it was doing could even be called driving. When the carriage finally did slide to a stop, however, the two teenagers nearly fell out and kissed the ground in relief.

Needless to say, Arthur decided that perhaps Alfred had a valid point in wanting to avoid the scarecrow-driven carriage. They regained their footing in the stopped vehicle and managed to step out without falling over from dizziness. "Never again," Alfred huffed, trying to support the much-worse-off Arthur (perhaps cambions had some sort of higher tolerance, either that or Arthur was just prone to getting shaken by less-than-pleasant carriage rides).

"I agree, but at least we're here," Arthur said.

The carriage had stopped rather close to the tall building which the trans-dimensional train was housed in, so it was simple enough to walk inside. Within the train station there was a large lobby which greeted them first; today many other students were gathered to either wait for the boarding call to evacuate or say good-bye to friends. Alfred and Arthur were, of course, there for neither purpose.

"ARTHUR KIRKLAND, do you have any idea how much trouble you are in?"

Of course, fate had to ensure that Arthur's mother spotted them the second they walked inside-late, of course. Much later than Amelia had wanted.

Turning to face her, Arthur replied, "I may be in much more after this is over, mum." Alfred snorted in amusement at that statement, as did Peter, who was standing next to Amelia.

"Clearly you do not have any idea, because, Arthur, it _is not possible_ to be in more trouble than you are right now," Amelia declared. "Once we get you home, you can rest assured that you-"

"I won't be going home," Arthur interrupted quickly.

"…What?" Amelia looked more confused than angry at this point; perhaps that was a good sign.

"Not only would I prefer to stay at the Academy, but I _have_ to," Arthur explained. "You see… This here is Alfred…"

"Hi," Alfred said cheerfully.

"…And I am responsible for him, in a sense." Arthur looked around to make sure none of the other people in the station were watching, and quickly rolled up Alfred's sleeve to reveal the seal mark.

His mother gasped and for a moment looked like she was going to start screaming at them; Arthur had expected something of the sort, what with the general reputation of demons. Then, as suddenly as she'd become furious, she seemed to calm down. "Fine, you'll stay-but that does not mean you are out of trouble, or that I approve of this," Amelia stated simply. "In fact, this probably means you are in even more danger than before… Perhaps you would consider _both_ coming to the mortal realm?" She looked hopeful, like her sudden calm tone was going to convince anyone.

"I'm not allowed," Alfred said. "'Cause I'm half-demon." It was true that there was a policy in place to prevent demons and relatives thereof from entering the mortal realm-not that it was well enforced at all.

"We also have some things to take care of," Arthur put in. "I apologize."

Then, Amelia did something that was very unexpected to both of the blonde teens: she pulled Arthur into a tight hug. "Be safe," she mumbled, before pulling away. "Come on, Peter, it's almost time for the train to leave." With that, both her and Peter walked away, probably to the train platform.

"Random," commented Alfred, after a long pause.

"A bit, I suppose," Arthur replied. "Ah, bloody hell! I think we definitely forgot something, but I can't for the life of me remember what."

"We forgot something?" Alfred asked. "I thought we just came to tell your mom your were gonna stay and then ask if there was any sort of family stuff that would make people come after you-oh."

Arthur sighed. "What's done is done, I suppose. I doubt there was anything, or she would have tried harder to keep me out of danger… At least, I imagine so."

"Whatever. So, how are we getting' back to the Academy? If we take the scarecrow thing I'm gonna puke," Alfred warned.

"…It isn't against the rules if nobody sees, correct?" Arthur mumbled slowly. Alfred looked at him in confusion.

"Ohhh, you're really gonna do it, huh?" Alfred said. "Okay, yeah, that's right. So… If you were wanting to like, use a teleportation spell…"

Arthur pulled Alfred out of the lobby so that none of the others gathered there would see, and then listed out the incantation as if he knew it by heart (as he most likely did). The second he finished the words, both of them vanished from the area.

* * *

They reappeared in Arthur's bedroom, Arthur landing on the bed with the ease of practice and Alfred bouncing off the bed and doing a face plant on the carpet. Pulling himself up, he complained, "That hurt."

"I attempted to soften the landing," Arthur explained. "It isn't my fault that you just so happened to be unprepared."

"Well, sorry. I've never been in a transportation spell before or whatever." Alfred crawled up onto the bed to sit next to Arthur.

Blushing as Alfred pulled him very close, Arthur said, "Most people haven't; I've only used that spell a few times, myself."

"Why?"

"Ah, well it… Ah… Tired," Arthur mumbled. He was already feeling the spell's effects, although it seemed weird to fall asleep like that in the middle of the day. For a moment he questioned why he'd used the spell without regard to his energy-oh, because he wasn't about to have Alfred puke all over his shoes and whatnot in the carriage.

"Y'know, I kind of have a solution if you don't wanna fall asleep here," Alfred commented quietly.

"Doubt it," Arthur replied sleepily, looking up at the other.

Suddenly Alfred ran a hand through Arthur's hair and pulled the shorter, much-surprised teen into a kiss. It wasn't exactly what Arthur had expected, but for whatever reason, it seemed to work-the kiss wasn't the warm, soft one they had shared on the night of both of their confessions either; rather, it was rough and quick, not because of its sudden start either. Yet, Arthur felt himself slowly becoming less tired; why was that?

When Alfred pulled away, the blue-eyed teenager explained, "Since I'm a cambion, and like, incubuses or whatever steal energy… I'm half-human, so I guess I can make it work both ways."

"…That so?" Arthur looked a bit surprised. He hadn't known anything like that, even with all of his research, but apparently it was true. He didn't feel tired at all, but that also made him worry a bit about Alfred. "If it's a transfer of energy, how are you feeling now?"

"Got plenty of energy to spare." Alfred shrugged. "Now, yesterday you said somethin' about a lunar calendar, right?"

Arthur blinked. "Right, I suppose so," he replied. "I probably have one in my bag…" He grabbed his school bag off of the bedside table, having packed it with his school supplies earlier; being prepared for the start of classes couldn't hurt, after all. Digging around inside the bag for a moment, he found what he had been seeking and pulled it out quickly. "…Ah, here it is."

"What's it say?" Alfred questioned, looking over Arthur's shoulder.

"Alfred, it's a lunar calendar; it shows the phases of the moon," Arthur explained. "Seeing as the moon is the source of all magical energy, or mana, each phase means something to the magical world… And there is only one time when abilities may be transferred."

"When's that?"

"Lunar eclipse," Arthur replied, looking over the sheet and paling as he realized exactly how close that was. "…Damn."

"I can't read this," Alfred mumbled. "It's in Freakinese or something. When's this lunar eclipse or whatever?"

"Latin, Alfred," Arthur pointed out. "And it appears to be… tomorrow."

"What's a latin?" Alfred asked in confusion. "Also… tomorrow… that's bad, isn't it?"

"Latin is the language this is written in," Arthur sighed. "…And I suppose, no, it isn't necessarily bad. After all, we would have no idea how to prepare even if given more time. There are several things that still bother me as well, but I have a feeling that my questions will be answered before our enemies attempt to… ah…"

"Which they won't succeed at, by the way!" Alfred declared.

"Yes, thank you Alfred. There is, however, one last thing…" Arthur paused, biting his lip. "You know… If they are trying to cause your death to prevent you from interfering, then it's likely your father will attack very soon, even today."

"I guess so."

At that moment, there was a loud knock on the door.

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**I'm sorry it's so late and I'm sorry I ended there. But I, ah, tried to make it longer for ya'll. Yup.**

**(and it's kind of late at night but I'd feel bad if I had it written and didn't post it when it's already so late)**

**I love that scarecrow. (and reviews, by the by xD)**


	20. It's Exactly What You Thought

**OH MY FLYING MONKEY PIGS THIS IS LATE.**

**Sorry. So sorry. I know I can't make up for this delay, but I'll try to put up the chapter after this one within the week and get back on schedule, etc. etc. You know, I'm that kind of person who will lose to the Elite Four in pokemon and then not touch the game for a month. Then I'll go back after a month, train like hell, and kick their asses. That's sort of what happened here. I wrote it, lost the flash drive it was on... The rest is history.**

**I hope this chapter is good enough…**

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Both Alfred and Arthur stared at the door for several moments before Arthur stood up, getting off the bed to open the door. "Arthur! What if it's _Ivan_ or someone else we don't want to be anywhere near?" Alfred hissed.

Arthur, however, didn't see much of a reason to worry. He had tried to sense some sort of mana-usually, that would be the way to identify whether or not the person who had knocked harbored any ill intentions. This time, there was nothing; no life force, even. He was really just checking the door to see if the person had left or not. "It isn't," he said reassuringly. "Whoever it was had probably left… And, were we attacked in this room, where would-"

"The window," Alfred interrupted. "We would jump out the window, if we were attacked in this room. Because we sure as hell wouldn't be going out the door, where the _enemy_ would be standing."

"Pray tell how you expect to survive that fall," Arthur said, crossing his arms.

"Magic," Alfred replied, almost before Arthur was finished speaking.

"No magic yet devised allows sorcerers to fly, save for being turned into a bird with a bird's brain," Arthur said crossly. "Therefore, Alfred, there will be no jumping out of that window."

"But Arthurrrrr…" Alfred whined.

"No," Arthur repeated very firmly, uncrossing his arms and yanking the door open.

Instantly _something_ stumbled forward-stumbled, not lunged, not ran, but stumbled like they were injured. However, that didn't seem to be the case either as the stumbling creature hauled itself off of the floor and several more filed in next to it. As they entered, with them came the overpowering scent of some flowery perfume.

"Arthur." Alfred's voice sounded completely serious, fearful even. "Window. Now."

Taking another glance at the creatures-no, they were humans. Arthur guessed that because they were humans, then they wouldn't be radiating mana like a sorcerer would… Except, normal humans couldn't survive in Sorceryville-he decided to ask. "Alfred, what _are_ those?"

"Humans," Alfred confirmed slowly. "But screw the details, because we have to get out of here. They're only a _tiny_ bit dangerous… but I can't… um. Won't hurt them."

Arthur, who was just about to hit a couple of the 'humans' with an offensive spell they wouldn't soon forget if they survived it, paused. "Pray tell why! If they're going to attack us-"

"It's not their fault," Alfred interrupted, grabbing Arthur's hand and effectively causing the spell he had been casting to fizzle out. He then pulled the green-eyed sorcerer away from the enemies; those were taking a short pause as if they weren't sure what they were supposed to be doing.

Trying to recall why that might have been was quite the task-had there been something in his prior research that would have been useful? Might as well ask. "Alfred, are incubi able to control humans?" Arthur breathed, really hoping that it wasn't true. If it were, Alfred had a point and there was no way they could harm these people. (or do so and not have their consciences to deal with)

"Sometimes."

Well, that made things difficult-or, at least, it meant Arthur would have to waste time in trapping the people inside a barrier. "I'll take care of it, so-"

"No time." Alfred suddenly grabbed him around the waist, practically knocking Arthur off of his feet. For a moment, Arthur was vaguely aware of what the blue-eyed teen was planning, but it either didn't connect in his mind or he didn't believe Alfred would actually do it until there was a click, a creak, and the cold air of the outside hitting him in the face.

"ALFRED I CAN CAST A BARRIER SPELL AND IF YOU JUMP OUT OF THE BLOODY WINDOW I AM GOING TO _END_ _YOU_!" Arthur shouted, somewhat hysterically; perhaps it was an overreaction on his part, since there were ways they could fall from the tower and not die.

But, as expected, Alfred either didn't hear over the wind or chose not to listen, and leapt out of the window spectacularly all while still holding onto Arthur, arms wrapped around the shorter teen very protectively.

There was a huge crashing noise and the clanking of broken roof tiles as Alfred hit the roof below them; his foot went part of the way through one area while he landed on his knee in the shattered material next to it. "Is it over?" Arthur asked, breathing hard-he had closed his eyes right after Alfred had jumped.

"I think-" Alfred stopped replying the second his foot slipped out of the small hole it had made in the roofing and he began to tumble down the rest of the slanted roof, not even making an attempt to stop but rather trying his best to keep Arthur from getting scraped by the rough tiles.

The two slid off that section of roof and at that point Alfred pretty much gave up on righting himself, not being able to get his feet _underneath_ him. Yup, this was officially going to hurt, and if the aching in his legs was any indication, it was going to hurt like _hell_.

He was right; Alfred landed on his back and it not only knocked the breath out of him, but there was a distinct cracking sound from his back that Arthur heard as well and cringed-Arthur, however, was relatively unharmed except for some possible bruising. "Alfred?" Arthur's voice was _completely_ hysterical now. "Are you _alive_? I _told_ you not to jump out the window! I… I…!"

"Chill," Alfred managed to say, although it sounded as forced as it was. "'M fine… I think." He breathed out hard in relief once Arthur managed to climb up off of him, green eyes flickering up towards the tower they'd just fallen from.

"If you hadn't hit that other roof, you'd be dead," Arthur was almost crying, he had been so terrified… "_We_ _would both be dead_. Oh well, what's done is done… I suppose we're headed to the clinic now. Again." He took Alfred's hand, pulling the injured teen into a standing position.

"Don't wanna go to the clinic," Alfred whined halfheartedly. "Gilbert'll laugh."

"Good." Arthur pulled Alfred into leaning on him. "Perhaps that will teach you to _listen_ when I say I can handle it!" Once he'd gotten over the terror caused by the fall, Arthur had quickly become irate. He was definitely worried about Alfred, still, but no matter how endearing the loudmouthed teen's spirit was, there was a thing as too much.

"I screwed up," Alfred declared softly as Arthur began helping him walk towards the clinic-which was pretty much on the other side of campus. He groaned just thinking about how much he would be hurting by the time they actually got there.

"Yes, you did, but I'll forgive you," Arthur decided. "However, I'd appreciate it if you'd stop treating me like I'm helpless. This isn't the first time."

"I just don't want you getting hurt," Alfred replied quietly, glancing at Arthur. "And I did?"

"When we fought the dragons?"

"Oh. Yeah, I was wrong that time."

"As well."

"Huh?"

"You were wrong that time _as well_ as this one."

Alfred laughed, before the pain in his back and parts of his chest forced him to stop and gasp for breath. "Hey, no fair," he wheezed. "I got us out of there."

"True, but-" Arthur stopped as Alfred suddenly froze up, stopped walking, and then unfroze to pull Arthur closer to him.

Then there was something that made Arthur freeze as well; first it was the cold, heavy mana that seemed to settle at every point in the air, even darkening it slightly-not enough to impede his vision-like a thin black fog. Second, there was the tall figure that had seemingly materialized in front of them in a single instant.

Clearly recognizable as a demon, with his large horns and jet-black hair that looked as though it had only recently been cut, the being began advancing towards them. Alfred made a quiet hissing noise and whispered, "That's him." To Arthur. Then, shouting to the demon in front of them, "Don't come any closer, you son of a bitch!" An empty threat, of course, and the demon knew it.

"It's been far too long, Alfred," the demon-Alfred's father-cackled. "And that's what you greet me with? I knew you were a brat, but still!"

Before Alfred could reply, Arthur pushed his way out of the blue-eyed teen's grip with a reassuring glance; it practically said "Let me handle this". There was no doubt that Alfred was upset by this, didn't want Arthur to be in danger, but he hadn't forgotten that conversation from about five minutes before. And besides, if things got bad… He could still do one thing to protect the love of his life. One thing that Arthur would really object to, one thing that he hoped wouldn't be necessary, but…

"…And who is this?" the demon asked slowly, fixating his gaze on Arthur.

"Arthur Kirkland." Arthur took a step forward. "…But I do believe it is common courtesy to introduce yourself before asking someone else's name? Or, were you under the impression that I would not speak, and Alfred would answer for me?"

Alfred's father only chuckled darkly. "I see," he said. "I see."

"His name's Demetrius," Alfred mumbled. "He just thinks it's fancy to be an ass or something and not say so."

"Was anyone asking you, Alfred?" Demetrius asked slowly with a voice full of nothing but pure, icy venom. "No, but I wonder if this kind of pet would care."

Without warning or incantation, Arthur let, from his hand, a shot of pale blue lightning that missed Alfred's father by mere centimeters, even singing the ground near his feet and causing him to jump backwards in shock. He'd heard that little comment quite clearly, and he wasn't about to forgive Demetrius for it. "I wonder," Arthur hissed.

"Oh, he doesn't know." The demon looked more amused than anything after the initial surprise had faded. "That is just how I see all humans, sorcerers… I thought Alfred's mother was an exception, until she suggested I bind his abilities. None of them understand, and thus, none of them are worthy of being anything else."

"In English: He's a sick bastard," Alfred said very bluntly. "Hey, Arthur, don't let him get to you, okay?"

"I won't," Arthur lied; it had already happened. He had already been upset by the demon's comments, enough to bypass incantations and attack without a second thought. That was very unlike him, very… different. He couldn't let it happen again. Yet it would, caused by Demetrius's very next words.

"Alfred thinks the same way," Demetrius smirked. "He'll lie and hide it. Use the seal as an excuse, but how would a seal made to suppress raw power suppress the _personality_ of a cambion?"

Black lightning jolted from his palm this time, hitting the demon's shoulder and burning the entire area, along with his neck. Demetrius stumbled backwards, clutching the wound and hissing in pain. "He's a liar," Alfred breathed, sounding panicked. "I don't think like that. I don't _want_ to think like that."

Running his hand down Alfred's arm soothingly, Arthur replied, "I know. I am not concerned about anything he is saying." Despite the gentle action and tone of his voice, Arthur was still seething with anger. How dare this demon enslave humans to injure Alfred, and then say things that he was sure were meant to make him doubt the other?

"…Love you so much," Alfred panted, wincing as the pain in his chest and back only increased. He was in no condition to fight, even if he could.

"Of course he'll say that!" Demetrius shrieked, clawing away the burned skin at his shoulder and allowing new skin to grow over the injury almost instantly. "But I know what books won't tell you. I know that all of us have the same feelings, and a filthy half-breed is the same! We're supposed to be clever, able to plot. So, why would he be different? He acts like an idiot. All in a plot! A plot to fuck you and steal your magical power!"

This time, the lightning Arthur shot at Demetrius faded before even reaching the demon; he didn't understand why. Was he… doubting Alfred? Considering that Demetrius's words just might have been true? It was impossible. There was no way that simple words from a stranger could change his opinion of Alfred like that. An incubus. Who had just claimed that their kind was crafty. "You will pay dearly for that, I hope you understand," Arthur declared. "You are trying to make me turn on Alfred, because you are meant to kill him, but perhaps hope to keep from getting your hands dirty. But in doing so, you've sealed your own fate."

"Then why did your spell fail?" Demetrius countered, taking several steps forward, towards them. "You were starting to doubt him, weren't you?"

"I…" Arthur's breath caught in his throat; what could he say? Perhaps it was true. Perhaps it wasn't. He couldn't justify the latter response, since a spell born of fury and a desire to eliminate that demon had failed. There had been a gap somewhere…

"Arthur?" Alfred looked at him desperately. There was nothing evil in those clear blue eyes, nothing dark.

There was a way to solve this. He had to think of it-Demetrius hadn't made any moves to wound either of them so far, so his offensive power was a mystery. Coupled with the healing power that the demon had just exhibited, attacking him again could be dangerous. But… "In that case," Arthur began. "I'll let you do that, Alfred. If you want, you can use me like that." He made sure Demetrius heard it, of course.

"No," Alfred gasped. "No, just no."

"And there's my answer," Arthur stated simply.

"Oh well." Demetrius shrugged. "I have more than one plan."

With that, the demon lunged forward, knocking Arthur aside and casting a spell to imprison him on the ground right where he fell; a small, blue, sparking dome formed directly above him. Alfred was unable to react in time and Demetrius was able to kick him onto the grass and grab him by the wrist, yanking him upwards only a second after he'd fallen and ripping open his sleeve with the other hand. "And you had the nerve to replace my seal. Tsk." It was unclear whether he was talking to Alfred or Arthur-probably both.

"Unfortunately, I'm going to have to break this before I kill you," Demetrius muttered darkly. "I want to see my son before he dies. Not the pale, weak imitation that this seal has made."

"I'm not weak!" Alfred shouted, although his voice, hoarse from injury, wasn't helping at all.

"So sensitive," Demetrius commented. "But I'd be more worried about what will happen to your little pet over there when I do. I felt it when you broke mine-oh, it hurt, but fortunately, I am not so fragile."

"What are you saying?" Alfred hissed.

"I am saying, of course, that he will break too."

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**Wow I'm such a jerk.**


	21. Break

**I had no trouble getting this written, just wouldn't let me edit the story.**

**Ohhh and... Uh... I broke my flash drive this weekend. Almost lost this chapter. BUT TRAGEDY WAS AVERTED.**

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Due to the barrier he was trapped in, Arthur couldn't quite hear what Demetrius was saying, but only knew that it couldn't be good. _I have to get out of here…_ he thought, looking over the top of the barrier cautiously. Experimentally, he held his hand up to press it against the transparent blue wall-only to draw it back, cursing as it burned him.

_I can't afford to underestimate this barrier, since it's made through demonic energy rather than plain mana._ If it were a normal barrier made by any normal sorcerer, then there was a spell that he could have used to absorb the mana that it was made of. In theory, he could, but there were consequences that he wasn't sure he could face.

However, he considered it the second he saw Demetrius grab Alfred by the arm. The demon's free hand began glowing ever so slightly with small, black orbs that looked more like dust than magic; but that was no demonic curse, nothing that a sorcerer couldn't cast. And Arthur recognized it. "What could you possibly gain from doing that?" he shouted as he beat his fists against the barrier only to get burned and flinch back yet again. He wasn't even sure that they could hear him; he couldn't hear _them_.

In any case, he would have to do something about the barrier very quickly. Of course Arthur knew what would happen if the seal was broken. What would happen to both him and Alfred.

_Think, think… Think, damn it…_ No matter how many times he told himself that, he didn't know of any way to remove that barrier that didn't have some sort of awful consequences. It was true that there were situations that even magic couldn't solve, but they were few and far between, and he'd never imagined being in such a situation. Now… _If I don't get out of here somehow, I won't be the only one who dies._ It wasn't a comforting thought.

He sat up as far as the barrier allowed him to, placing the palms of both hands about an inch away from the front of it. Even though he wasn't touching it, Arthur could feel the evil energy radiating from its curving wall; it was lightly singing his skin even at that distance. "I only need to redirect it," Arthur told himself. He hoped that he could absorb that energy, but use it quickly enough to avoid most of the damage to his own body.

Beginning to mumble the incantation was all it took to begin the spell-but to use the energy that began flowing into his fingertips that moment, burning his flesh painfully the second it touched them, he had to say the next incantation instantly.

The pale blue energy continued to filter through his hands, shifting into a mysterious, smoky scarlet color and returning to the wall to assault it. The scarlet energy shifted constantly, crackling as it attacked the blue walls that remained. "It's working," Arthur breathed, clearly relieved despite the pain that had begun traveling up his arms and through his shoulders; it was beginning to creep into his chest, making breathing a chore. Clearly, he wasn't able to use _all_ of that energy.

At the last second, he broke off the spell-the walls, weakened by both his absorption of the energy and its redirection, began to crack. Pieces dissolved, until finally the barrier simply vanished. "Alfred!" he shouted, standing up and gasping for air as the pain in his chest began to fade as well. Clearly, both Alfred and Demetrius were surprised that he had managed to escape. Without wasting a second, Arthur thrust out his arm and shot a slender bolt of deep black lightning straight at Demetrius, severing the hand that said demon had clearly intended to break the seal with.

Instantly the bleeding from the demon's wrist slowed, and then stopped. What appeared to be pale, near-translucent new skin began to form over the stump. "Oh well." Demetrius shrugged and glanced over at Arthur. "That will grow back. But I see I've underestimated you." He darted forward and grabbed Arthur by the neck with his good hand, lifting the blond sorcerer off of the ground several feet. "So I'll kill you before anything el-"

Demetrius stumbled back, dropping Arthur and hissing in pain; Arthur had managed to get a hold of the anti-demon cross from his pocket before being strangled, and, unable to think of anything better, had pressed it into Demetrius's face. As the demon drew back, the cross fell into the grass.

"How did you get that?" Demetrius growled as he fell back and clutched the area over his left eye. "That… But it looks like you don't know how to use it. And you'll never figure it out, because I can and will kill you before you do."

Arthur scrambled to pick up the cross, holding it out in front of himself defensively once he managed to do so. "You won't get near me," he hissed.

"Never said I would," Demetrius chuckled.

"Arthur! He's going to-" Alfred, who had been watching helplessly, attempted to shout. However, he was much too late.

The demon's severed hand had never stopped glowing, and now dug its fingers into the area around Alfred's seal. Alfred fell as though unconscious just before Arthur felt his grip on the cross loosen. Before it hit the ground, intense pain seized his entire body, like multiple flaming daggers driving themselves through his organs, muscles, even bone. He couldn't help it; Arthur screamed and fell over, trying to clutch at an injury that wasn't there.

He tried to think, tried to calm himself down, but it wasn't possible. There was nothing that could possibly distract him from the agony wracking his body, never fading even slightly. It seemed like minutes were passing without any change, even hours or days, but in truth they were mere seconds. Then, through that pain, he felt something warm wrap around his body. Arthur, feeling like he had been coming apart at the seams, began to believe that whatever that was may have been the only thing keeping him together.

"…Hurts," he croaked, beginning to regain his reason as the pain faded but with his throat raw from the screaming.

"I know. I know," a familiar voice said soothingly; but it did the exact opposite for Arthur.

"Y-you," Arthur gasped, not allowing himself to look up. That voice. It was the same as he'd feared, deep and… cold. Layers of some unrecognizable _thing_ over Alfred's warm, enthusiastic, young voice. It was unnatural; not that he hadn't thought that before. "No…" He could feel hot tears escaping from his nearly-closed eyes and rolling down his face. In normal consciousness, Arthur would have stopped it. He was delirious, clearly, but it wasn't enough to make him accept that the seal had… broken? Or loosened again?

"I won't let him hurt you," Alfred whispered, clearly unaware that Arthur was completely distraught. He pulled the crying teenager closer, and glanced over his shoulder at a very-surprised Demetrius.

But he wasn't surprised by Alfred, or the fact that Arthur was no longer screaming and writhing in pain; rather, it was because a slim, gleaming silver blade had just been thrust through his chest from the back. Blood dripped from the wound and swirled around the sword, attempting to self-heal just as the demon's wrist had. However, at that moment, the sword was dragged upwards through and out of his neck, spilling more of that blood and causing Demetrius to fall, gagging on the red liquid as it bubbled around his throat and chest.

"That was very close, da?" Ivan swung the sword to the side, flicking some of the blood onto the grass that wasn't already stained with it. "But he did too much. Killing you is not in the plan, Arthur."

"You'd better leave him alone!" Alfred shouted at Ivan. Somehow, Arthur got the feeling that the 'I won't let him hurt you' from before had nothing to do with Demetrius. It was Ivan. Ivan had killed Demetrius and was now standing in front of them, sword outstretched.

No, not quite. Demetrius let out a loud, blood-choked growl and vanished into a flurry of black soot-it wasn't death. He had fled. "I am only here to dispatch the unnecessary scum," Ivan said. "But that includes you, da?" The violet-eyed teen pointed the sword's tip at Alfred.

"Alfred," Arthur mumbled, slowly opening his eyes to look at what he hadn't dared to before. As expected, Alfred's eyes were a deep red color as before, but this time there were huge, leathery black wings protruding from his back and short, curled horns that were almost covered by his unruly hair. This time, Arthur had regained his reason. It was the same Alfred, wasn't it? "Please don't fight him. Run. That sword isn't an anti-demon weapon, but… Just… Ignore your damn pride and run for once!" The tears had dried. He felt right again. Stronger.

But it wasn't enough to convince Alfred. "But I killed the dragon that one time and it was easy! Plus Ivan's a complete bastard who's threatened you a bunch of times, and then he went and fricking _kidnapped_ you. Now he's saying he'll kill me, and you think he doesn't deserve to-"

"That isn't it," Arthur interrupted loudly. "Can you imagine the consequences if you, as a half-demon, killed him, whose mother happens to be the head of the Council? The blame would be placed on _your_ head, and you would be slain or imprisoned and I don't want that to happen!" He dug his fingers into Alfred's shirt and glanced over at Ivan, who seemed to be waiting for them to finish, expression completely blank.

Alfred mumbled something about self-defense, which made Arthur realize that he just didn't get it.

"I know it would be under normal circumstances, but _these aren't normal circumstances_," Arthur said desperately.

Finally, Alfred nodded. "Okay, I get it," he agreed. With that, he stood up, holding Arthur in his arms bridal-style, and snapped out his wings.

Before he could try to or even figure out how to use said wings, however, Ivan must have decided that it was time to act and lunged forward. "Alfred! Put me down!" Arthur shouted, knowing it wouldn't happen but hoping to get some opportunity to retaliate against Ivan's imminent strike.

Alfred, however, had been too busy trying to figure out his own wings to even notice that Ivan had moved; much less that he was attacking. "Huh?" Somehow-perhaps it was the demonic abilities at work, because no sorcerer could react as fast as he did-Alfred shifted Arthur into one arm, causing the green-eyed teenager to cling to his shirt for fear of falling (not that it would happen) and lashed out with his now-free hand, catching the blade between two claw-tipped fingers, which was a feature that Arthur hadn't noticed before (the claws).

Pressing down on the blade with his third finger caused it to simply snap in half like a twig, much to Ivan's surprise, at least. Arthur, having already come to terms with the fact that Alfred had only days ago snapped a dragon's neck easily, was not at all shocked. He was still worried that Alfred would end up fighting and mortally wounding Ivan anyway. "Alfred!" Arthur gasped.

"It's okay, just taking care of the pointy sword," Alfred huffed, grinning childishly. He flicked the broken bit of metal aside for it to land uselessly in the grass. But it was clear he intended to do more than that as he dug his heel into the ground sharply, causing it to crack under both his and Ivan's feet. However, _he_ was able to lift himself and Arthur off of the ground with his wings, while Ivan fell into the resulting fissure.

"Alfred!"

"What? It's only like six feet deep," Alfred commented, landing again next to the crack in the ground. "But _ow_. These wings are really heavy." Despite that comment and its truth, he flapped them to lift further up into the air, away from the crevice that Ivan was attempting (and succeeding) to climb out of.

"Ah… Well then." Arthur relaxed just a bit. "I'd have used a barrier if you had just let me down for a moment, you know."

Alfred paused, thinking about that for a moment. "Doubt it. My fault. Will explain later," he answered quickly. "So where should we go?"

"Probably-wait, you what?" Arthur mumbled.

"Well I sort of figured something out, you know?" Alfred replied. "Um… a long time ago my mom explained the whole seal thing to me and I remembered… something to do with mana. Like, you know… How you die when it gets broken?"

"Because the excess mana that whoever casted the seal had been using to keep it intact attacks the body, yes, Alfred, I know." Arthur thought for a moment. "So. You must have drained my mana."

"Yup."

The next few moments were rather quiet, with the only noise being from Alfred's wings flapping and allowing them to glide through the air (albeit roughly). It didn't help that he had no idea where they were supposed to be going. "…Somewhere we can hide until after the eclipse," Arthur muttered, closing his eyes. "…Can't be anywhere near the school. And it can't be my grandfather's home, as he would, very literally, kill me for allowing the seal to break… The mortal realm is too far…"

"Maybe I know a place," Alfred said absentmindedly. "I think I can get there… But it'll take a while."

"Where?" Arthur asked, opening his eyes again to look at Alfred. He couldn't for the life of him think of anywhere, so it was a bit surprising that Alfred could. "Perhaps is it… With one of your relatives?"

"If you mean like my mom," Alfred paled just a bit. "Then hell no. But you've been there before… And that's why I'm not gonna tell you 'til we're there! It's a surprise."

"Fine," Arthur sighed.


	22. The Broken Seal's Result

**Two chapters at once! Isn't this fun? It's because was being weird and wouldn't let me post the previous chapter like ten days ago when it was done.**

**Well we're revisiting an old location that I flesh out a bit more in this chapter.**

**I wrote over half of this while watching House at one in the morning. Woo.**

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"You aren't serious," Arthur said flatly the second he realized where exactly Alfred intended them to stay. The first little clue was arriving at a very familiar forest with some very familiar mountains… And then the second was when Alfred actually landed (or attempted to) on the rocky wall of one of those mountains, digging a free claw into the stone and swinging his feet into the cave entrance below. Somehow, though, his fingers slipped out of the indentations they had gouged out and he fell more than landed, turning at the last moment to land on his back and keep from accidentally falling on Arthur.

"I'm totally serious," Alfred wheezed, rolling off of a very bent wing and scrambling to his feet, bringing Arthur up with him. Of course, at some point during the little crash, he'd let go of the blonde sorcerer or something like that, so now Arthur was happily standing on his own two feet.

Not completely happily, seeing as they were in what Arthur was pretty sure was the lair of that dragon Alfred had killed. Actually, since no other cave had carpeting just inside the entrance, he was positive. "It's the perfect place, though," Alfred insisted. "I mean, the dragon is dead and nothing else has moved in since then-"

"How do you know that?" Arthur questioned sharply.

"I can smell it?" Alfred answered with a bit of a weird tone to his voice. "Yeah. It's weird. Let's move on. Anyway, nothing's been living in it since then. And it has furniture, because the dragon was weird. Plus dragon corpses apparently don't rot because I don't smell that, either. _Plus_ not even I knew where this was. I just looked around for the forest and mountains and stuff!"

Unable to think of an argument against that, Arthur reluctantly agreed. Perhaps Alfred had found a good place after all. "If that's taken care of… What are we going to do about the seal?" he asked slowly. "I can't cast the spell by myself, especially if you've drained my mana. And I'm a bit worried about what will happen if you _stay_ in that form…"

"What could happen?" Alfred shrugged and grabbed Arthur's hand, starting to walk into the cave.

"Perhaps the reason for the seal in the first place is that such evil mana would affect your personality," Arthur thought out loud. "So… If you're suddenly exposed to it… Wouldn't it cause problems?"

Alfred tilted his head to the side very slightly. "I'd call these-" He shifted the one huge wing that wasn't hanging limply off of his back. "-problems, so yeah. I mean, they're heavy and I think I broke one. It hurts like hell."

"This isn't a time for jokes!" Arthur snapped as they reached an inner cave of sorts-the place that they had been kept before, with an unusual, glowing rock of some sort illuminating the entire room with eerie blue light. As before, there was black carpet and several simple chairs, as well as a couple of huge couches that may as well have been beds. Perhaps it was a dragon-sized couch.

"I know. Hey, I wonder where the dragon got furniture anyway?" Alfred said, looking over the room and looking at things like the couches rather closely, with interest.

"Are you avoiding the matter at hand?"

"Not really. But I dunno if there's anything we can do about it. So can you heal this wing?"

"_Alfred_!"

"Well, it _hurts_."

"Fine, I'll heal it," Arthur huffed, grabbing the limp wing with a little more force than necessary and basically causing Alfred to fall face-first onto one of those couches, hissing in pain.

"Owwwww!" Alfred whined. "I told you it hurt!"

"Ah, sorry, needed to see whether or not you were simply exaggerating," Arthur responded quickly, with a half-lie. Really, he had done it more out of impatience and irritation… And now he felt awful about it. "I'll… Heal it now."

"**Don't make that sort of mistake again."**

Arthur froze. That voice… It resembled the unnatural voice that Alfred had used when the seal was first broken, and before, when it was weakened, but there was a darker, more evil tone to it. Something sinister lay in that voice. "…What?"

"Did you say something, Arthur? I didn't hear." It seemed Alfred wasn't even aware of that, and was speaking normally again.

"Er, no." Arthur decided it was best to heal Alfred first, and after that, think of a way to seal his abilities before they really became a problem. He mumbled a familiar incantation under his breath-familiar to him, anyway-and ran his hands over what he assumed was the bone part of the wing. With a final, unintelligible word, he snapped an out-of place area back into position and drew back to let the spell run its course.

"Huh. It's weird," Alfred commented after a moment, folded both wings (including the newly-healed one, of course) and rolled over to sit on the couch comfortably. "That hurt a lot less than the other thing you used that one time."

"I suppose." Arthur sat down next to him. "Now, as for the seal… Before I was simply regulating your flow of mana with my own. The seal made it easier. If I were able to recreate the symbol, perhaps I could temporarily suppress your powers."

"If I hadn't drained your mana to save you back then," Alfred pointed out. "But that was kind of necessary."

"There's a way to fix that, too," Arthur mumbled. "Or, at least… Would you be willing to lend me some of yours? I couldn't use demonic energy, but since you're half-sorcerer, you ought to have some normal mana. As… As you did when we returned from the train station…" Blushing, he leaned to the side, against Alfred, and looked up at the other.

"I'd love to," Alfred replied, grinning as he wrapped both arms around Arthur, being careful not to dig his claws into the shorter teen's shirt. "But… I can't." He hesitated, of course, before leaning forward any further. "This time, I feel like… If I try to do that, the opposite will happen and you'll… get hurt."

"Explain."

"Since I'm like this, I'll accidentally take whatever energy you have left and you'll just… get hurt," Alfred said quickly. "I don't want to do that. I don't want to hurt you any more than I already-"

"Stop right there," Arthur interrupted. "You haven't hurt me in the least. Rather, I've hurt you. Or, at least, been the cause of…" Oh, where to begin? Ivan's attacks, probably. Definitely Alfred's father being freed from wherever he had been imprisoned to come after them… And then there was the whole being impaled through the stomach by a dragon thing. All because of some ridiculous power that Arthur wasn't even sure he had.

Alfred paused, since he really had no response to that. Then, "Well, I still can't do this."

"Fine," Arthur sighed, pulling away. "Then I'll find another way… Bloody hell, I left that anti-demon weapon back at the Academy… It could've been used to-"

"I could go get it," Alfred suggested.

"No, it's been an hour at least, and the place is probably swarming with sorcerers hell bent on finding us," Arthur chuckled. "All because Ivan's mum told them to, at that."

"Well, so that's out. But I thought I'd be able to control it myself," Alfred reasoned. "Most demons have human forms or whatever that they get by suppressing their powers, so why should I be different?"

"It doesn't matter." Arthur stood up and began to pace, frustrated. "Perhaps… We could give it the night, and in the morning, since my mana will have replenished itself, I could form a new seal… If it isn't too late."

"Seriously, what do you think will go wrong?" Alfred asked curiously. "I don't feel different… Except now I have horns and wings. Oh, and flying wasn't as fun as I thought. So the wings are now just really annoying."

"Well, Alfred… I'm not sure," Arthur admitted.

Suddenly, Alfred grabbed Arthur and pulled him back onto the couch. Right onto his lap. "Alfred, what are you-"

"You're so worried about me. But I'm worried about you," Alfred mumbled, holding onto Arthur tightly. "Why don't you sleep? And I'll keep watch. I can go one night without my three hours."

"Keep watch for what?" Somehow, Arthur felt that Alfred wasn't talking about any sorcerers that were trying to find them.

"Y'know… My dad's not dead, so he might have gotten better and he can actually find us," Alfred explained. "…I'm sorry."

"Not a problem," Arthur replied. "You can sleep, Alfred. He's probably more concerned with the gash in his neck, or the person who made it."

"If he kills Ivan, I'm gonna laugh."

Of course, that concerned Arthur just a bit and caused him to look up at his boyfriend in shock. "Kidding," Alfred amended quickly. "But I'm still keeping watch."

"Fine," Arthur sighed, wriggling his body out of Alfred's lap and onto the couch beside him. Granted, he was still using Alfred's legs as a pillow, but at least that was comfortable enough for him to sleep.

Or, he thought that at first. Not wanting Alfred to worry, he closed his eyes, but made no attempt to sleep. Thoughts of how he could fix the seal quickly, of how to fix _everything_. This wouldn't be the last lunar eclipse, so how would they avoid… Whatever lay ahead, should they keep running? If they were going to be targeted for the rest of his life, then he didn't _want_ to run.

"Arthur, I can tell you're still awake."

"Git, I'll go to sleep when I damn well please," Arthur mumbled in reply, not moving from his position. Even as he felt Alfred's fingers (and noticeable claws, still) running through his hair, he didn't move. It was probably meant to be comforting, but the _claws_ only reminded Arthur of what needed to be done. The seal needed to be cast. It…

"**Go to sleep. Now."**

No. No. "A-Alfred…" Arthur tried to jolt up, to back away, even. But something large and heavy-warm, but heavy-swept over his body, keeping him down. A wing. The wing he'd healed, no less. Then, he couldn't bring himself to look at Alfred at that moment. Arthur had opened his eyes, but couldn't look up. It wasn't that he was physically incapable of doing so-that hand was still running gently through his hair, rather than holding his head-but he didn't want to. "D-don't…"

"Don't what? Are you okay, Arthur?" Alfred still couldn't tell?

"Your wing."

"I thought it would be a good blanket," Alfred explained simply. So, had the wing movement been entirely because of that? Or was there another explanation? If there was, Arthur couldn't think of it and Alfred wasn't willing to say anything about it. "Since there aren't really any and we're in a cave. So it'd get cold in here, right?"

"Right, thanks." Despite himself, Arthur closed his eyes again and within minutes drifted into a rather comfortable sleep.

* * *

"_At first I thought I underestimated you, but you're a bit stupid, aren't you?"_

_It was a dream. Arthur knew that much, but he didn't recognize the voice that seemed to be drifting around inside of his head. "I am not," he replied defensively, despite the fact he did feel stupid for talking to something that wasn't there. In a dream._

_A faint, black shadow began to manifest itself in front of him. "I'd call falling asleep in the hands of a cambion stupid. Ah, but what do I know?" Eventually, it had formed into a very blurry Demetrius. "I'm only his father."_

"_You," Arthur hissed accusingly. It seemed that Alfred could only protect him from this in the conscious world, if that was really Demetrius. From what those books had said about incubi, it was._

"_Me." Demetrius shrugged. "Not that I care about killing him, or you, any more. Look, my hand grew back." With a smirk, the demon held up his hand-the one that Arthur had lanced off in their fight. "I'm still just a bit upset at how he turned out, but right now, I've got other things to deal with."_

"_Ivan?" Arthur guessed; he still didn't trust that demon, whatever he said._

"_And his mother, amongst other things," Demetrius replied simply. "Isn't this wonderful? We're having a civil conversation, even if you're asleep."_

"_So what do you have to gain by speaking with me?" Arthur asked._

"_Well, I thought while that little chunk out of my throat was healing. And I thought it would be fun to have you take out my enemy for me. I was betrayed by them, so I can betray them in return, of course. They'll never get me back into that… place. Anyway, her name is Sophia and she's after you, very specifically, because you can do something that only one other person in history could. Unfortunately, they were smart enough not to tell me what that was, or who."_

"_That doesn't help at all."_

"_I'm not done yet. As much as I hate what that seal did to Alfred, right now it would be worse if he didn't have it. So, I'll redo it for you. But I want to link it to your mana, because I just might change my mind and do something idiotic. In return, I want you to kill Sophia. Go back to your little school or whatever on the night of the eclipse and kill her."_

"_I'm not a murderer." Arthur swallowed nervously. Despite that, he knew that he would accept. A 'permanent' seal tied to his mana was what he wanted, even if he couldn't cast it himself. "…I'll do it."_

"_Oh, good. If I'm right you won't have to do much. So, I'll count on you to go back to the Academy during the eclipse, and in return, you get just the kind of seal you want. But betray me, and I'll destroy it before it becomes permanent. That kills both you and Alfred."_

"_Why should I trust you not to destroy it right after I… fulfill my half of the bargain?"_

"_Because it will become permanent just when you do that. And by the rules of demonic interference I can't break my half unless you break yours."_

"…_And I am to believe you because?"_

"_I benefit from this more than you do," Demetrius replied. "Anyway, if you want me to help you, get him to sleep or he'll fight, I'm sure. Wake up, think about it… It's about two in the morning, plenty of time."_

Just as Demetrius said that, Arthur found himself waking up, and rather violently at that. He shuddered and nearly fell onto the floor-only for Alfred to catch him and pull him back up. "…Morning, Alfred," he mumbled.

"I guess it is," Alfred said. "I think it's still dark out, though."

"Then… Perhaps you ought to sleep," Arthur suggested; he'd made his decision. "Before you argue that you don't need it, consider that, even if Demetrius came you couldn't fight him and would have to wake me anyway. Please."

"No, it's-" Alfred's argument was interrupted by his own yawn. "…Okay." He slid his wing off of Arthur, but made no other movements. "But I'm gonna sleep sitting up."

"Fine by me." Arthur sat up next to him, gently placing a hand on Alfred's arm-where the seal used to be, and where a new one would be again within a matter of moments.

"**I know you're trying to trick me."**

He should have been used to those sudden changes by then, but he wasn't. "I expected as much," Arthur lied, very nervously. How many hours had it been? How much time had that demonic power had to affect Alfred? Finally, Arthur looked straight at him.

Eyes. Red as they were before, but cold. No form of red should ever be considered a cold color, but there it was. They were the most noticeable change, surprisingly, and possibly the only one. "I _will_ have that seal redone," Arthur declared.

"**I don't really like that idea." **

'Alfred' lunged forward, grasping Arthur's wrists and pinning the shorter teen down against the couch. **"And you can't do anything about it. Neither can Alfred. You called it, you know… I'm just a mass of energy that got ahold of a body. But I represent the true nature of a cambion. What he should have been from the start."** It wasn't Alfred. It was just Alfred's body.

"Let me go," Arthur spat, jerking both wrists to free them; but that cambion's grip was like iron.

"**No, I don't think I will. Actually, I think Alfred was onto something with you. You're cute."**

"Don't-" Arthur tried to kick, knowing that even if he actually hurt Alfred then he could just heal it later. "-Call-" When he realized that the cambion was pressing down on his legs with one knee and immobilizing them, he tried moving them out from under that knee. "-Me-" He succeeded, kicking the cambion in the thigh sharply. "-Cute!" No, the cambion still didn't flinch.

"**Well, if you hit me, I'll make it hurt more."**

But the cambion's grip didn't tighten, nothing that would cause pain. Which left… "Stop," Arthur demanded. "Right now. This isn't funny."

"**I'm not trying to be funny. Alfred would stop, wouldn't he? But I'm not-"** Suddenly the cambion collapsed, sliding off of Arthur and off of the couch to hit the ground.

"You're welcome," Demetrius muttered, materializing next to the couch. "I made the seal. Took a while, but apparently he was a bit too distracted to notice. He'll wake up in a second. Now, keep your end of the deal or you both die." Just as suddenly as he'd appeared, he vanished.

* * *

**It is now four thirty in the morning and I'm still watching House. I leave for school in less than two hours. /fails**


	23. Clearly They're All Insane

The eclipse would be that night, which meant Arthur had very little time to come up with any sort of plan. It did _not_ help that Alfred was still completely unconscious (and lying on the floor due to Arthur's inability to pick him up; lord he was heavy). _Tonight, I'll be putting myself in danger no matter what happens…_ he thought. _My enemy is Ivan's mum, who is head of the Council. I may well be up against the entire bloody Council in that case. Six people with more skill than me._

He wished he knew who'd sent that note from before, and what the hell sort of power he had that made Sophia come after him like a wolf after fresh meat. Perhaps, if he knew the latter, he would be able to _use_ it. But it seemed that Sophia was also the only one who knew.

"I'm scared," he admitted to himself, although he did glance Alfred's way to see if the unconscious teen would stir-he didn't. There was no getting out of this, not now. Even if he couldn't do it, there was point in trying since if he didn't both of them were dead.

What he wanted… Not to be safe at home. Despite all that had happened, Arthur didn't regret coming to the Academy. He certainly didn't regret meeting Alfred-dangerous as that had proved, the pros outweighed the cons, after all. What he wanted now was a way to win and continue on with his life as a sorcerer. With Alfred.

"Would you wake up, you git?" he sighed, nudging Alfred with his foot. There was nothing for it-if Alfred didn't wake up by sunrise, then Arthur would have to just leave him there. And he would really have no chance then, now would he?

"…ive… mo… minu…s…" Alfred groaned in reply a few moments later.

"Alfred, wake up!" Arthur knelt down next to him and grabbed his shoulder. "It's important."

Suddenly, Alfred bolted upright. "What? Where is-Wait, cave. Right-o. So what's going on?" He looked at Arthur expectantly.

"We're… Going back," Arthur replied simply. "To the Academy, that is."

Of course, Alfred looked shocked. "But-Wait, why am I on the floor?"

"You fell off while you were asleep," Arthur lied. "…And we're going back because we need to defeat Ivan's mum. It's the only way we can be safe, seeing as there _will_ be other eclipses."

"Guess that makes sense." Alfred shrugged and got up off of the floor, brushing some dust off his jacket. "But how're we getting back? It took a while to get here, and I flew… Hey, why don't I have wings anymore? What happened there?"

"Very long story, that," Arthur responded, deciding that he couldn't exactly keep lying… It just wasn't healthy. "…I will, however, give you an abridged version. You did not fall asleep, rather, the change I had been fearing occurred and that… tried to… In any case, the seal was renewed, but in such a way that we must kill Sophia or both of us will die."

"What the and how…?" Alfred said with a rather blank expression. "How is that even…? And what did I do?"

Arthur sighed once again. "There's no time, Alfred. We have to leave. I'll use a teleportation spell so we can get back."

"If you'll tell me what happened later, okay," Alfred replied after a bit, grabbing Arthur's hand. "But you hafta tell me everything."

"Of course," Arthur nodded and began the incantation slowly under his breath. There was so much that he was still unsure of…

They both vanished on the spot.

* * *

Rather than falling roughly, this time, the two simply appeared, feet-first, on the ground. _I suppose I've gotten better at this…_ Arthur thought for a brief moment, before Alfred grabbed him-one hand on his lower back, the other on his shoulder-and pulled him into the somewhat-anticipated quick kiss. Before he even had time to be affected by the mana drain, Alfred was…!

"Alf… nn… need… to breathe!" Arthur gasped, blushing and pulling away just as quickly and suddenly as the kiss had begun. "W-while I appreciate your… enthusiasm… You can't just-" Again, Alfred kissed him-but very, very briefly so that he barely had time to realize what had happened before the blue-eyed teen had pulled away.

"Sorry," Alfred mumbled, grinning like it was some great joke. "Thought you might need a pick-me-up. And I didn't think you wanted me to _actually_ pick you up."

"Well…" Arthur looked around; they had appeared back in his room, just like before. It may not have been the safest place, but at least for the moment there was nobody other than him and Alfred in there. It looked relatively untouched, to boot, even if it did smell a bit like those possessed humans from before. "…I suppose."

"So we gonna go… you know?"

"One moment." Arthur walked over to the still-open window and stuck his head out, looking at the ground. The miniature fissure that Alfred had created was still there, although there were now multiple people standing around it, inspecting it-four people. All of them wearing maroon jackets. And one of them just so happened to look up at that moment.

Arthur snapped back inside, stumbling several paces backwards before he caught himself. "They know we're here," he breathed.

"Then we run," Alfred commented simply. He flung open the door and grabbed Arthur's wrist yet again. As usual, Arthur barely kept up as Alfred bolted down the stairs, tugging him along-but he did notice it was at a much slower pace than usual, either exhaustion or consideration on Alfred's part.

If it was consideration, then that may have well been a bad thing since it was at that moment, after all, that the same man who had caused Arthur's suitcase to fall when the teen had first arrived at the Academy appeared in front of Alfred and stopped both of them by doing so. "Kirkland, I _believe_ you've read the handbook by now?" he asked cheerfully, looking over at the green-eyed sorcerer.

Nope. "Perhaps I've forgotten every little detail, but yes," Arthur lied.

"Care to tell me which rules you are breaking right now?"

"Running down the stairs?" It was a guess.

The man laughed. "I suppose yes, but no. Rather, I think we may have to address something that isn't in the handbook. Arthur Kirkland and Alfred F. Jones, you two are in a whole lot of trouble." His expression suddenly became serious. "…But, not with me. You see, Madame Braginsky had, last night, called our Council together to discuss a matter of grave importance. That of a demon in the Academy, and a student who acted as an accomplice. You two. However, having witnessed your fine battle yesterday, I know that to be… not quite the situation. I argued this, but was outvoted and as such it was decided that both of you would be placed under arrest, tried in the highest court that Sorceryville possesses, and sentenced accordingly to their misplaced beliefs. You see, many of them would agree with Madame Braginsky without reason."

"I suspected as much," Arthur replied grimly. "…But surely by telling us this and allowing us to escape, you are an accomplice?"

"I cannot stand it when justice is not properly administered," the man replied. "Madame Braginsky is the one at fault in this situation, so assisting you two is within my interests, I should say."

"One of the other guys saw us when we were in the tower, though," Alfred put in.

The man sighed. "Well then, we must hurry, but I think we'll make it," he commented. "Follow me." He turned and motioned for them to come with him-Arthur did feel a tinge of suspicion, but what the man said next made that insignificant: "I do know why Madame Braginsky is after you, by the by. I know what that power is and why she wants it, but it is not safe to speak of any of that here."

…And so they followed.

Upon reaching a seemingly average wall, the man spoke again, "Here it is." He hit the wall and it vanished, revealing a rather long hallway with black walls and little crystal lamps lining the ceiling. "Hurry, I imagine the others will realize you've gone soon."

"Before we go any further, give me a reason to believe everything you've said," Arthur replied cautiously, holding out an arm to stop Alfred (who, for some reason, was paying very little attention to where they were actually going). "It's all very good and well if you can claim that you know about me, but how do _I_ know you aren't simply tricking us and taking us straight to her?" Of course, that would normally be convenient, but Arthur still wasn't sure that he was prepared and he sure did not want to be unprepared _and_ caught off-guard.

The man thought about that for a moment, and then shrugged. "Eh, you don't know, and I have no way to prove that I'm telling the truth. Follow or don't, Kirkland, Jones."

Somehow that was convincing enough for both of them to follow him into the black-walled hallway. It was a short walk, despite the hall's long appearance, but rather silent and lacking any ominous feelings. They soon reached a rather large, open room with faded green paint on the walls, lit by much less elegant lighting than those lamps that lined the hallway. There were a few small wooden chairs scattered around, and a large oak desk with an older-looking, larger chair behind it in the center of the room. It looked a bit like a very relaxed office.

"This is a safe place to talk," the man commented as he sat down in the large chair behind the desk and gestured to two of the smaller chairs that were in front of it (actually, there was a group of about four of the smaller chairs there). "Sit and I will explain exactly why Madame Braginsky is after you, Kirkland."

Both Arthur and Alfred sat down. "It begins with the circumstances surrounding your birth, Kirkland, if I remember correctly," the man commented. "Now, you have most likely dabbled in and played with the idea that Madame Braginsky wants your natural mana reserves or skill that is associated with your family line. And, if you have done so, you have probably realized that is not the case."

"Correct," Arthur mumbled, wondering where exactly this was going.

"There is nothing spectacular about a half-human sorcerer, either," the man stated. "So, were certain other circumstances not different, you would be completely normal. But there is a circumstance that I suspect you know nothing about: the fact that your mother, Amelia-absolutely delightful witch, by the by-is incapable of bearing children."

Arthur looked at him incredulously for a moment, and then replied, "That's impossible. Unless you are implying that she isn't really my mum."

"Technically yes, she is still your mother and you are still part of the Crowley line. However, she did not give birth to you or your younger brother-rather, she used some sort of human method that involves having another human carry the child. I do forget what that is called or how it works, but whatever it is solved her problem. She suffered from numerous abdominal injuries during her childhood training, and I remember that was probably the cause," the man explained. "I expect she never told you because she thought that person was a human and therefore it wasn't an issue. Your younger brother's _was_ human, come to that… But the woman who gave birth to you was a bit different from either humans or sorcerers."

"T-that… it would be…?" Arthur asked cautiously; he was absolutely shocked to say the very least. It explained plenty… surrogacy, that is. It explained why his mother never showed any symptoms of pregnancy before Peter's birth-save for vomiting that was, with this little discovery, probably caused by a stomach bug-and also, the woman who _did_ eventually look pregnant and seemed to be at their house a lot, only to vanish after Peter was born. Now, his own personal mystery would be solved if he just knew… "I-I mean… What was she, then?"

"A one-of-a-kind being, a deity of sorts I believe. Very little is known about her or her counterpart, except that each represents a sort of balance. One dark and one light-she would be the light one. The thing is, these deities normally can't reproduce… But with the cells already conceived, it seems she found a way to carry a child at the very least. You," the man continued, watching Arthur's surprised reactions with interest and Alfred's relative blankness-perhaps lack of understanding. "You didn't get any of her genes, but what you did receive from her was nine months of nutrients, blood, oxygen… Basically, her powers affected your development and you became a sort of pseudo-deity. But you haven't been able to invoke those abilities thus far. My theory is that Jones has protected you for the week or so you've been in danger at the Academy, meaning there was no need for those abilities to make themselves known. Before that, perhaps Edward was aware of them and made an attempt to force them to surface, but failed. Even before that, your parents were not aware of who she truly was but still tried to protect you from all magic… but that is not necessarily significant."

At this point, Arthur was barely listening as he tried to process what he'd already heard. A deity? Wasn't that some sort of god or higher power? The Councilman did refer to there being two in order to balance things. "…How can I…? H-how can I… Use them?" the words just wouldn't come right; his head was still spinning.

"I have told you what I know-or perhaps not. The reason Madame Braginsky wants those powers-plural, Kirkland, she is aware of all of them as well-is not for herself. I have a belief that she-"

"Um, you guys? Problem at seven o' clock-or six or something," Alfred interrupted, jumping out of his chair and looking towards the room's entrance.

Arthur glanced over his shoulder, not seeing anything unusual. "Alfred, there isn't anyone there."

Mere seconds after that little comment, though, a large puff of black smoke began unfurling from the entrance to the black hallway. Sparks shot from it, becoming slender threads of yellow light and branching out into the room like dozens of blurring, jagged, searching snakes. "Bloody-" Arthur couldn't even finish that little exclamation before three of the Council members in maroon jackets strode into the room from the smoke. Unfortunately, Sophia wasn't amongst them.

"Councilman Howers, what are you doing?" the tallest one hissed.

"He's disobeying Madame Braginsky's orders, that's what," the second put in. "We even voted to arrest _those_ two, but you didn't listen! Now we have to arrest you too, and that's gonna be such a pain in the ass…"

"If you feel like that is the just thing to do, you're wrong," Howers noted, not standing up. "Jones is only half-demon, Madame Braginsky is the one who released the real demon in the first place and she is only doing what she is because she wants to strip Kirkland of his powers. Kirkland who, by the by, is an innocent victim in this entire scheme. Now, rebuttals?" He clasped his hands and looked at the three other men curiously.

"You're senile," the third declared bluntly. He glanced at the other two beside him and ordered, with the same cold blunt tone: "Arrest all of them. If Howers or Mister Jones resist, execute them here and now. Take Mister Kirkland alive, as per Madame Sophia's orders."


	24. Pale Grass

**I absolutely love everyone who keeps reading this despite my awful habit of… delaying updates. Luckily, summer's here and there's no school to keep me from writing! -insert little happy face-**

**(and going on cosplay outings with my England. I might have mentioned I cosplay America, or not)**

**Also, let it be known that I read all reviews and stuff, but… it usually takes a while because my silly email sends all my stuff to the spam folder. So I have to sift through a hundred flower sales and email scams, messages from dating sites I've never heard of, and the like… to read everyone's reviews.**

* * *

This was certainly a problem. They were likely to lose in any case, and if Alfred or the other Councilman fought they would die. That anyone would die was a bit unnerving, but to tell the truth, Arthur had absolutely no influence over Howers, nor did he have much concern for the man's safety despite the fact he had helped them. Alfred, however, Arthur could ask to back off at least. The other teen had little magical ability or anything of the like thanks to the seal, after all. But then again, if they did lose and were captured, Alfred's execution was a possibility anyway…

And Arthur himself would definitely be alive at least until the eclipse. He could fight, and the Council members that were after them would be avoiding fatally wounding him.

Then, suddenly, it was unnecessary to even think about attacking or asking Alfred to stand back. Familiar words hit his ears as Howers had apparently decided to act and was now mumbling an incantation.

Clearly the other three found those words familiar as well, because they wasted no time in attacking. The first and second charged forward as the third surrounded them with some sort of opaque white barrier. The first dashed past both Arthur and Alfred, going straight for Councilman Howers. The second made a (rather clumsy) attempt to grab Arthur by the neck and was almost hit by Alfred for doing so (blocked by the third's barrier), but ended up tripping and falling face-first into the edge of the desk. It was actually hilarious to watch.

The first also failed in his attack-Howers struck him in the torso with a small orb of red energy that he had summoned, causing him to collapse. "That approach was a bit reckless," Howers commented, looking at the third and only other conscious Councilman in the room. "I would think that you could at least use a barrier that could withstand the attack you knew I was preparing. Also, when Gregory wakes up, do inform him that he needs shoes that aren't half-destroyed already."

Just like that, Howers had dispatched two other Council members. Perhaps it was simply a matter of stupidity on the part of all three of the others, or perhaps it was experience-Howers looked much older than any of the others.

"I-I… Well..." the third Councilman looked around, sizing up the situation. He then vanished in a puff of thick gray smoke.

"Would you mind terribly moving those two?" Howers asked, gesturing towards their two unconscious foes. "They aren't truly bad, even if Gregory is a bit lazy… But youth these days…" He shook his head. "Their hearts are in the right place, but their minds aren't anywhere near it. Put them over… ah… on the floor over there. That'll do."

Alfred complied, dragging the two into the same area on the floor and backing away as Howers covered them in a barrier. "So, like, they looked really funny there," Alfred chuckled playfully. "What did ya think, Arthur?"

"Does your hand hurt?" Arthur asked blankly.

"What?"

"You hit the barrier," Arthur explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if you broke it."

"Oh," Alfred held his hand up and looked at it. "Nah. Well, I probably bruised it, but it ain't broken."

"In that case, I suppose it was rather comical, Alfred," Arthur admitted, glancing over at the desk. He smiled a bit. "But that isn't important now… We have to eliminate Sophia."

Alfred bit his lip uncomfortably, and then nodded. "Yeah, I know. Death threat and all-who was the jackass that thought of that one, anyway?"

It wasn't worth answering, so Arthur skipped over that one. "In any case, Councilman Howers, what should we-" he paused, glancing around since Howers apparently wasn't anywhere within sight now. "Sir?"

"Hurry up!" the councilman's irate voice echoed from the entrance hallway. "If it's so important, then I'll show you where she is, but you have to take care of your own business. I just want to remove her from power."

Quickly, the two caught up with him in the hallway. "If you must kill her, I hope you are prepared to deal with the consequences," Howers continued. "The law. Perhaps she is corrupt, and perhaps she is trying to steal your abilities, but murder is never justified."

"I suppose I was hoping it would be," Arthur mumbled.

Howers shot a glare his way, clearly unhappy with his view. "Absolutely not," he replied. "And you-" He gestured towards Alfred. "-are half-demon. I won't say it's fair because it isn't, but your punishment will be much worse."

Arthur stopped walking and looked at Howers. "If you're so concerned about this, why don't you stop us here? You're more than capable of doing so, I imagine," he said icily.

Howers grimaced. "I am," he admitted. "And I would be quite ashamed of myself for not stopping you, were you to go through with it."

"So you think we're joking," Arthur stated. "We-"

"We aren't!" Alfred declared, cutting in. "I don't care if it's against the law or whatever because, guess what, that bitch has been harassing Arthur since the first day he came here! I mean, kind of not directly, but still! And then a bunch of other stuff."

"Then I'll leave you to it," Howers said. "It seems I cannot change your mind. We will not see each other again." He raised his hand up in the air and flicked his wrist, creating a large, thick gust of wind that began to swirl around the hallway. It was suffocating, causing Arthur to close his eyes tightly and stumble backwards, trying to get out wondering if the councilman was really trying to stop them.

Alfred tore through the wind just in time for it to fade away. He took a sharp breath and looked over at Arthur. "Okay, now where are we?"

Opening his eyes, Arthur realized that they were no longer surrounded by black walls, or any walls for that matter. Nearly losing his balance thanks to the lack of wall to lean against simply reinforced that fact. Much to his own dismay, he had no idea where they were as well. Some sort of open field, with pale, almost white grass that brushed against their knees and barely-visible trees on the edge of it. Councilman Howers was no longer with them either-apparently he was serious when he'd declared that they would never see him again.

"Hmm-mm, it looks like that annoying old rook did me a favor," an absolutely chilling, grating voice came from behind them. Arthur whipped around, and to see-what? A woman with platinum blonde hair and sharp violet eyes. He certainly didn't know who it was-it should have clicked in his mind, but didn't-but Alfred seemed to.

"Ivan's mom," Alfred mumbled, stepping in front of Arthur protectively.

_It looks like the councilman wasn't kidding about 'showing us where she is', either._ Arthur thought grimly, shaking his head. A direct confrontation was next to the last thing he wanted.

"Don't be so quick to defend the king," Sophia said calmly. "Alfred. I suppose I haven't made myself clear. Neither of you have to be in any danger-I don't _have_ to kill either of you to win this game. Arthur, let me take your abilities-it won't hurt, I promise. And then I'll simply leave you alone. You'll still have some abilities, be able to attend the Academy… There isn't any reason to resist, really."

"If it was that simple, you wouldn't have gone about gaining my… abilities the way you did," Arthur snapped. "Sending Ivan to attack me, kidnap me even, releasing a demon… the like."

"Besides, you don't have any freaking right to Arthur's powers!" Alfred growled, taking a threatening step forward.

"I have no reason to believe that I do," Sophia agreed calmly. "However, Ivan does. He should've had the same… yet, you were the only one born with any trace…"

"Ivan doesn't either!" Alfred declared.

Sophia's expression suddenly became dark, sending chills down Arthur's spine. Why would she even think that _Ivan_ had a right to abilities that, according to Howers, stemmed from some sort of light deity? If Sophia weren't Ivan's mother, then it would make more sense… of course, he and Ivan were about the same age, so it was impossible. Unless… That note, had it come from that deity? It spoke of some sort of contract that would prevent direct interference by whoever wrote the note and someone else.

_I mean, kind of not directly…_

Arthur had never seen or spoken with Sophia until this moment. Supposedly, this was the most powerful sorceress in the area, who could have easily done something simpler than sending Ivan or Demetrius to attack them. So why would she?

"Are you… breaking some sort of contract at this moment?" Arthur asked cautiously, looking at Sophia.

She looked at him for a moment, and then laughed quietly. "How would you know about that?" she wondered. "Yes, in fact, I am breaking a contract at the moment. By doing this, I have insured that I will not live past tonight. The second the transfer spell, and the eclipse, are completed, I will gladly leave this world, having accomplished my only goal."

"Your only goal is to steal angel powers from a teenager?" Alfred asked sarcastically. "That's weak."

"Alfred!" Arthur hissed, gripping the sarcastic teenager by the arm. "If I'm correct, making this woman angry is an extremely bad idea. And since when are they 'angel powers'?"

"I wasn't sure what to call them and I really don't care what she thinks," Alfred admitted. "But it sounds sorta better than 'weird light thingy powers', doesn't it?"

"It doesn't matter what you call them," Arthur mumbled.

Sophia began to look quite bored, looking both of them over dully. "You're really intelligent, as expected. But I don't much care," she said, glancing around. "Oh, well, Ivan's a little late… the eclipse will begin soon."

Whatever soon meant to this woman-the sun was beginning to set, yes, but it would be at least a couple of hours until the moon was high enough in the sky, and the eclipse far along enough to begin any sort of power transfer-Alfred was understandably unwilling to wait for that. "I won't let you touch Arthur," he practically snarled, prompting Arthur to wonder if the seal would break again. Lord, he hoped not. There had been quite enough of that.

Suddenly, a short burst of pain shot through Arthur's skull-he took a quick step backwards, holding one hand to his forehead. It ended almost as soon as it began, but was followed quickly by a wave of hot and cold not unlike a fever. "Alfred," he muttered. "S' not important…" Wait, what was he saying? He couldn't make heads nor tails of his own thoughts… was it a spell cast by Sophia? Or, since Alfred seemed unaffected, something else…?

"Arthur, are you okay?" It was Alfred, but he barely heard it.

It took a few seconds to realize he'd fallen, that the palms of his hands were pressed firmly against the dirt and the long grass was brushing his face from all sides. Those sensations vanished quickly as well-they gave way to crushing darkness and the sight of bright red eyes… not the demon-form Alfred's, thankfully, and completely unfamiliar. It was like a violent, sickening, blurry vision. Almost like what he'd experienced after collapsing during the first seal renewal ritual-almost.

"Arthur!" Alfred paled, extremely worried. He knelt down next to his apparently semi-conscious boyfriend, who gave absolutely no sign that he'd heard. Arthur's breathing slowed very slightly before he fell to the ground completely and Alfred had no idea what to do about it. However, he had very little time to figure that out. Sophia was one very imminent threat, and he could hear another person making their way through the tall grass-the steps were too small for it to be Ivan, but Alfred doubted it would be anyone coming to help.

Alfred stood up and glanced over at this new person-with the maroon jacket, it must have been the final council member. Since all of them were apparently on Sophia's side… Well, this was going to be difficult. "I don't care how many of your evil minions or whatever you bring, I'm. Not. Letting you. _Anywhere_. Near. Arthur."

"I suppose you won't want us to help him, then?" Sophia questioned. "He's just collapsed and I'm assuming you have no idea how much _danger_ that puts him in…"

Alfred hesitated, glancing back at the unconscious teenager; that was enough of an opening for the newly-arrived council member, who darted forward the second the opportunity presented itself and thrust a jagged dagger straight into Alfred's shoulder-it would've been his heart if he hadn't turned at the last second.

"I lied," Sophia said flatly, shrugging.

The council member ripped the dagger out of Alfred's arm, splattering his blood over the grass in small specks of dark red. In return, Alfred lashed out instinctively and grabbed the councilperson's arm, unsure of what to do from there until an odd feeling ran through his uninjured arm, from around the point the seal should've been. Then, his fingers just… closed. The councilperson's arm was snapped clean in two with a loud, disturbing crack before they stepped backwards as fast as their legs would carry them. "Y-you…" they muttered, clutching their broken, dangling arm and staring at Alfred fearfully. "Madame Sophia, y-you didn't say…"

"Did I tell you to move?" Sophia asked, causing the council member to whimper and shake their head

'no'. "The knight is a dangerous piece if used correctly, and you're just a pawn."

Surprisingly, the council member nodded, seeming very okay with being called a pawn. "Sorry," they whined.

Alfred blinked and glanced at his own hand in shock. He certainly didn't do that on purpose, even if he was furious with Sophia and her followers. The seal was suppressing his power, despite Arthur… being unconscious… wasn't it?

_If I can beat her and this other guy because of it, then the seal can just go to hell._ Alfred thought, pulling up his sleeve to check. The mark was pale, flickering… And he could feel the random jolts of power that ran through his body every time it faded ever so slightly.

He took several steps towards Sophia, hardly noticing the terrified council member-who was still backing away quickly-and declared, "I'm going to defeat you before Ivan even gets here."

Sophia didn't look at all impressed or threatened. "Go ahead," she said simply. "Nobody's stopping you, after all."

Alfred obviously didn't get the sarcasm and lunged forward, ready to slice her head off with the claws that began sneaking out of his nails as the seal wavered. Sophia didn't move, and for a moment it did look like Alfred would succeed-his claw was mere centimeters from her throat when she did move. Faster than anything he could keep track of, before he even heard an incantation, a dark mass of energy directed by Sophia punched a hole the size of a baseball in Alfred's stomach.

The energy slowly withdrew, letting Alfred fall to the ground, wide-eyed and with dark blood gushing from his stomach. He knew he had to get up, do something… severe pain coursed through his gut, but he could ignore that easily. Alfred's eyes flickered the same dark red color as his blood, dangerously close to the bright demonic color they had been so often before as the seal continued to wane.

He tried again, springing up off the ground to attack. Sophia stepped back and, again without incantation caused the same dark energy to follow Alfred and wrap around his leg and his already-bleeding arm, slicing shallow gashes in his limbs and causing him to take a little more notice in the pain. He still wasn't about to give up, though.

"I think that's enough damage," Sophia commented, directing the shadowy coils to yank Alfred onto the ground. "But you won't learn your place no matter what I do, will you?"

"I know where it is!" Alfred growled, flinching as the shadows wrapped around more of his body, cutting very slightly. "Between you and Arthur. I will freaking-" Something hit him in the face, hard, breaking his glasses and making his thoughts a bit fuzzier than before. "I won't-" Again. And again, until Alfred slumped over, unconscious.

Sophia smiled, glancing over her shoulder. "You're late, Ivan," she murmured.


	25. Best They'll Get

Once Arthur finally came to, he noticed two very, very bad things right off the bat. The first was Alfred, who, as far as Arthur knew had been standing up straight relatively uninjured mere moments ago was slumped against a tree, with numerous dark-colored wounds still leaking blood and wrists bound harshly to said tree's lowest branch. Second, the area of the field they had been in before was now grass-free, and the ground was little more than rough, burnt soil. This wouldn't be as concerning if it weren't for the thin trenches dug through the ground in a very expected, familiar pattern: the ability transfer array.

He dragged himself off the ground and into a sitting position, surprised that he hadn't been bound and somewhat curious as to where Sophia was. It was never a good idea to lose track of your enemy, after all…. But that didn't matter. He didn't know how, exactly, but he was sure of it now.

_She _is_ the deity of darkness… Ivan and Natalia can't be her children, in that case… _Arthur thought blankly, trying to process the same vision that had caused him to collapse. It contained answers-he just couldn't remember all of them. What he did know was that he couldn't possibly fight against a deity.

_Alfred…_he glanced over at the bound teenager, feeling a twinge of pain inside his chest. _If he knew she was a deity, how would he react?_ Stupid. He claimed to love Alfred and didn't know how he'd react to a hopeless situation-to persevere, perhaps? He then looked up at the sky, noting that it was almost completely dark out and that the moon had risen. It was even the pale scarlet typical of an eclipse already.

"You've already figured out that it's hopeless, haven't you?" Sophia's voice echoed from the very air before she manifested in front of him. "I only broke my contract because I was sure I could accomplish my goal… win the game…"

"You aren't a mere sorceress, though," Arthur said dully.

"Of course," Sophia replied. "Will you surrender now?"

Truthfully, he would have nodded and agreed only seconds before, but his mind did clear a bit and cause Arthur to consider the options before giving up. If he had the powers of a light deity, he should have been able to face Sophia in combat. But no powers had surfaced, and he had no idea how to use them.

"No," he answered finally, glancing over at Alfred again. The unconscious teenager hadn't even stirred. "I won't."

Sophia sighed and waved her hand, prompting the final council member-the one with the snapped arm-to carefully shuffle out from behind the tree Alfred was tied to, odd dagger in hand. "I'd sacrifice my knight for the sake of winning the game, but would you?" she asked curiously.

Biting his lip, Arthur somehow managed to stand up despite the weakness that seemed to plague his body since his vision. "You are truly a loathsome being," he commented, glaring at Sophia defiantly, and then sighing in defeat almost immediately after. "However, you've won."

"Of course," Sophia repeated. "So be good and do as you're told."

She walked to the outskirts of the burnt area, and only then did Arthur notice that Ivan was standing in the tall grass as well, silently looking forward. Sophia said something to Ivan, and he nodded before walking into the burnt area, at a point in the array directly opposite of Arthur. She then turned and looked directly at Arthur. "Down," she commanded, and some unknown force-it certainly wasn't through his own will-pulled Arthur down onto his knees.

There was a sudden, quick surge of pale blue energy that ran through the entire array almost the second Arthur hit the ground. It was blinding, right before the light dimmed and became a thick, dark purple and crimson color like evil, pulsating smoke. It poured out of the indentations, engulfing both Arthur and Ivan.

Despite the energy's initial looks, being surrounded by it wasn't nearly as terrifying as Arthur would have predicted. Breathing was only a bit difficult, not impossible, and there was light-but nothing to see. That wasn't comforting. He didn't know how it was going to happen, but this swirling cloud of dark energy was about to steal some sort of powerful ability he hadn't known the nature of until that day.

…Or not. The energy dissipated quickly, and the first thing Arthur heard once his senses were clear was Sophia shrieking in rage. "You! What did you do?" she shouted hysterically, yanking Arthur to his feet by the collar of his shirt. "I know you have that power… I sensed it before! So _why_ can't I take it, or even _sense_ it in you now? It's impossible!"

What? Arthur just stared at her blankly, unsure of how to reply. He didn't do anything… Nothing that would result in a loss of power. But it wasn't there anyway? Somehow, he was genuinely shocked.

"The eclipse will end soon… There's no time," Sophia muttered, releasing him. "Ivan?"

"Da," Ivan acknowledged her call, at least, albeit blankly.

"Where's your sword?" she asked dully.

Ivan blinked. "…I left that back at the dorm," he replied slowly.

Sophia's eyes widened. "You're lying," she said accusingly. "Why, after all I've done, would you hate me? I-you know I tried to give you the best abilities, everything… Even though you weren't even my son."

Based on Ivan's reaction or lack thereof to that comment, Arthur decided he'd already known. "It's over," Arthur declared. "I assure you I haven't done anything. You were simply wrong." It sounded somewhat cruel, said with the knowledge that Sophia would die-no, not really die since she was a deity, more like 'leave the world' as she put it before-very soon. He looked at the sky again. The moon was beginning to reappear. It was already too late for a second attempt at the power transfer ceremony.

Carefully, Arthur stepped out of the array and edged towards the tree Alfred was bound to. The opportunity seemed right to free him, and it would be a good idea to do so seeing as he had no idea what Sophia would do now that her plan had completely failed.

Upon reaching the tree, Arthur realized that the council member had fled-perhaps they had feared what Sophia would do, just as Arthur sort of did? He sliced through the vine-or whatever it was-holding Alfred to the tree with magic, relieved to find he could still use his usual abilities despite the fact that Sophia hadn't succeeded in grasping what she wanted.

Slowly and without looking back at Sophia and Ivan, Arthur began slowly healing Alfred's wounds. He didn't want to look back-Sophia was still hysterical, upset… The second she noticed he had moved, she would probably react to that and he wouldn't be able to continue. Also slowly, Alfred began to come to. "…S' it over?" Alfred mumbled.

"Not quite," Arthur replied, continuing his work.

"…Wha… What's… going on?" Alfred asked, eyes now open normally. "Huh… My glasses… Where are they?"

Arthur took only a second to glance around and notice the metal frame of Alfred's glasses twisted and smashed near the base of the tree. Apparently, they had been mangled after the very-obvious hits to Alfred's face-the blue-eyed teenager still had a bloody nose, bruises, and the like. "Dead," he replied, picking them up with the hand he wasn't using to heal Alfred.

Alfred laughed weakly, hacking up a few drops of blood in the process. "Urg… Well…. Where's Ivan's mom?" He must have been really out of it to not hear her shouting in the background. "Please say she's the same place as my glasses."

"No," Arthur said, setting the broken glasses down in the dirt and continuing to focus on the healing spell. "But the spell… It failed. Looks like this 'mysterious power' of mine has vanished."

"Ha, knew it," Alfred chuckled, before stopping. There was a lack of mouth blood this time, but he seemed to be in a bit more pain as he flinched. "I was really worried… That she'd hurt you anyway, y'know?"

"She still might," Arthur replied grimly, still not daring to look back. Then something clicked in his head. "You knew what, exactly?"

Alfred paused, weighing his options. "Can I tell you when we're not in danger?" he asked, prompting Arthur to nod and continue the healing spell.

The entire exchange probably lasted about a minute before Arthur stopped and finally looked back at Ivan and Sophia. Sophia had collapsed, presumably from despair or weakness from breaking her contract-both, maybe. Ivan was walking towards them and stopped right in front of the tree, placing one hand on the branch Alfred had been tied to before. "I think," he began. "There are much better uses of time. No hard feelings, da?" he smiled.

"You _bastard_," Alfred hissed, coughing once more.

"I knew she wasn't related to me, yet I listened to her," Ivan muttered, glancing back at Sophia. "Ah. I have said a little much, da? None of it matters." He then decided that was all he needed to say and began walking in the opposite direction, towards the row of trees ringing the field. "The Academy is this way, as is the festival," he explained, not turning around or stopping. "You will attend, da?"

"Was that an apology, or a threat?" Arthur wondered quietly.

"Apology," Alfred sighed, leaning back against the tree and causing Arthur to look at him in surprise. "Well… I still don't like him, but that's probably as close as it gets."

"I suppose so," Arthur said. "Say, Alfred, what was that about a festival?"

"Start of the year festival," Alfred replied. "We could go-" he attempted to get up, groaned in pain, and slumped back against the tree. "-if you could finish healing me." Pause. "Pretty please?"

"I'm not in the mood for any festival," Arthur commented, although he did continue the healing spell. Fat lot of good it would do for the hole in Alfred's stomach-that would take time as well as magic-but perhaps he could get him walking. "I feel ill." A little more than ill, actually-it was a bit unnatural. No magic power had been taken from him, and he wasn't expending nearly enough on the healing spell to hurt himself.

"Arthur, I'm sorry," Alfred said suddenly.

"Why is that?" Arthur questioned, looking at him in slight confusion. "You haven't done anything."

"…Yeah," Alfred mumbled. "Except I did. I tricked you, I tricked Ivan's mom, I tricked freaking everyone."

Now, that was interesting. "How did you do that?" Arthur wondered, although he was halfway attributing Alfred's apology and sort-of explanation to blood loss.

Alfred looked at him seriously. "I stole your powers," he admitted. "The light ones. When I kissed you the last time…. I figured there would be a trap and I thought we might lose the fight. But no way I was losing you. So I stole them."

There was a large pause as Arthur considered that and Alfred bit his lip, waiting for some kind of reaction. "…You're an unbelievable idiot!" Arthur finally exclaimed, flicking Alfred in the forehead. "You assumed it would be safe to do something like that…? This entire time Ivan's mum has been sending assassins to kill _you_, simply because you fought against them on my behalf! What would have happened if she'd _discovered that you_…? Idiot!"

Rubbing his forehead and chuckling, Alfred replied, "But she didn't. And now she's dead. Score one for Alfred." When Arthur crossed his arms and continued to look generally irritated, Alfred continued, "Geez. Okay, I can give it back right now and maybe you'll feel like going to the festival then?"

"I haven't forgiven you yet," Arthur huffed. "It bothers me that you have no regard for your own safety, Alfred, it really does. Consider my feelings for a moment."

Alfred paused. "…'Kay," he said. "I won't do things without asking you first, _mom_. But this whole thing is over, and we'll never have to deal with it again."

That was as close to what he had been asking for as he would be getting, apparently. "If you're going to give them back, then hurry up," Arthur said. He wasn't going to win this battle, and he could definitely understand where Alfred was coming from with that stupid, stupid plan of his that ended up working so there was no point dwelling on it.

A quick peck on the lips was all Arthur was willing to give for the power transfer that time-it was something that was necessary and by no means meant to be pleasurable. Still, afterwards, he felt a bit more at ease and less… exhausted. "Will you go to the festival with me _now_?" Alfred whined.

"Perhaps," Arthur replied as he stood up, half-dragging Alfred up with him.

"'Perhaps' isn't 'yes', which means I'm gonna have to drag you there," Alfred commented cheerfully.

Arthur sighed. "Then, yes, I will."

* * *

**Next chapter is probably the last one and might end up being nearly twice as long… however long it takes to wrap things up. Unless I make an epilogue, in which case the next chapter would be second-to-last.**

**I appreciate everyone who has read this far.**

**Reviews make me update faster.**


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